Select-A-Seat; Adult League Update & More

Saturday was actually a big Ducks day as it was the annual Select-A-Seat event at Honda Center and just that morning the 2007 Stanley Cup Final clinching game five was on the NHL Network. 

Naturally I stopped surfing the channels to re-watch the Ducks hoist the Cup.  The odd thing about it though, was that I seemed somewhat disconnected for most of the game.  Maybe it’s because that game was in the bag as soon as the Ducks scored first.  Maybe it’s because the team today is so different from that unstoppable force.  Maybe it’s because it’s just been a long time. 

I do remember being strangely relaxed on that fateful night of June 6, 2007, but this time even when the last seconds ticked away and Doc Emerick announced that the Anaheim Ducks are Stanley Cup Champions, I didn’t really get the rush that I had other times that I’d re-watched the seminal moment in franchise history.  It did all come flooding back however when Pierre interviewed Teemu after the game.  Just seeing the clip on the NHL”s “No Words” commercial is special but the full impact of that moment is something else. 

Anyway, that’s enough nostalgia for a little while.  Congratulations to the new Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins, and boo to the rioters in Vancouver.

Select-A-Seat was a pretty cool event with free drinks, hamburgers, hot dogs and a short address/Q & A session with COO of the Ducks and Honda Center Tim Ryan and GM Bob Murray.  One of the reasons this blog has been delayed almost a week is because I guarantee it won’t be as good as Robby’s over at Anaheim Calling.  We learned from Ryan that Honda Center will be undergoing some upgrades with full wireless capability for this upcoming season and an enlarged team store, upgraded VIP areas and a sports bar (similar to the Jack Daniels Club but for non-club level ticket holders I assume) which will likely be ready for the 2012-13 season.  Here are some artist’s renderings of what it might look like from the Ducks website.

From Murray we learned that he’s optimistic about the Ducks’ draft position this season (22nd overall in the first round), he likes what he’s seen from prospects Emerson Etem and Devante Smith-Pelly and expects them to be in the lineup within the next few years, and he isn’t a fan of this year’s Free Agent pool. 

When asked about his priorities for free agency this summer he said that his focus is on building a third line because there isn’t a defenseman of high enough quality (e.g. Niedermayer or Pronger) available so it wouldn’t be worth it to chase a number two guy.  Most telling of all was that he slipped called it a “shitty year” for free agents before correcting himself and saying it’s a “bad year.”

He also said that he wants to build a third line with an identity of its own, rather than just copying the Sammy Pahlsson line from the glory days.  He mentioned Sammy a couple other times, making me realize how hard it must have been for him to trade Sammy away, seeing as he clearly has just as much of a man crush on Sammy as we all do.

Most importantly Murray had some light to shed on the Teemu situation.  He said that he knows more than he ever has about Teemu this summer and that Teemu wants to play as long as his lingering knee issues (that have dogged him since before the lockout) are not a hinderance to his training. 

According to Robby’s Select-A-Seat post, Murray also mentioned (in a separate session) that he had lunch with Teemu and Paul Kariya where Murray expressed his interest in bringing Kariya back  in one form or another. 

That section of Robby’s post got me thinking all kinds of crazy things, but yesterday I learned from about a 17th hand source, my mom told me that one of my dad’s co-workers ran into Kariya at an In ‘N’ Out, (investigative journalism at it’s finest) that Kariya isn’t able to play this upcoming season but would like to stay in the game.

While that’s somewhat disappointing it is good to see that the organization is reaching out to Kariya to at least build some tradition and history within the franchise, similar to how Rocky Wirtz welcomed back the greats of the past in Chicago.  Now we’ll just have to convince the 50% of Ducks fans who never want to see him in the building again that it would be a good thing for the franchise.

*****

Saturday was also my second official hockey game.  We were crushed 5-2 (even though the stats sheet only gave us credit for one goal for some strange reason) by a team that may or may not be too advanced for our Rookie league. 

They scored on their first two shifts and it was a little bit infuriating because we didn’t have the puck much for the rest of the game.  There was also a certain player on the other team (the orange clad “Total Chaos”) who was better than everyone on the ice and knew it.  I took offense to a fake out move he tried to put on me while making a face, but I kept my composure because it would not have been worth it to try and teach any lessons.

The name of this blog is becoming increasingly apropos, as our team (Flashback) is starting to look a bit like the pre-Bombay District 5 squad.  This may be a little hard to follow but bear with me.  Total Chaos, the team that we were just killed by, lost 4-2 in week one to Goal Diggers who in turn put a 7-2 curb stomping on Train Wreck otherwise known as the team we lost to in week one.  So by the transitive property I predict that we will be run out of the building by the end of the first period next week when we match up against the Goal Diggers.  In the mean time our next game is against Outta Control who lost 5-6 to the aforementioned Goal Diggers on Saturday.

At least now I know what to expect and it should be a little easier to take the beatings in stride.  Plus if we somehow pull a win out it’ll be all the sweeter.

D-5 Returns: Thanks for the Emerys; Rookie League Begins

I’m back, partially because there is some Ducks news out there this week, and partially to document my first foray into organized hockey.

Yesterday Eric Stephens of the OC Register reported that Jonas Hiller will return to the ice in July at Francois Allaire’s hockey camp in Hiller’s native Switzerland.  This is good news obviously because the Ducks missed Hiller badly over the second half of the season and because in the same article, Stephens reported that Bob Murray hasn’t spoken to Ray Emery or his agent about a new contract.  Murray is apparently comfortable going into next season with a tandem of Hiller and Dan Ellis, the latter of whom is still under contract for the 2011-2012 season at a reasonable $1.5 million cap hit.

So it looks like the end of the line for Emery as a Duck.  It was an extremely impressive few months.  Thanks for keeping us afloat Ray, but to me you’ll always be the guy who banked our Cup winning goal off his own player into his own net.  EEMMMMMMMMM-RRRRYYYYYYYYYYY, EEMMMMMMMMM-RRRRYYYYYYYYYYY!

In tangentially related Ducks news, Ilya Bryzgalov’s negotating rights were traded from Phoenix to Philadelphia this week.  The Flyers will have to move someone to make enough cap space to sign Bryz, but it seems like a perfect fit to me: a world class goalie going to a city that has had goaltending issues for the better part of two decades.  Hopefully for the Flyers it’s not too cold and there are enough parks in Philly for Bryz’s liking.  Could you himagine!?

These two stories combine for a pretty good match as well.  It seems to me that a reasonably priced goalie that has just proved that he can still be a starter in the NHL (Emery) is a good fit for a League owned team (Phoenix) that just lost its franchise goalie (Bryzgalov) to budget concerns.  But that’s just me.

Also Anaheim Calling recently had a post on poaching restricted free agents.  Although I do like the idea of trying to drive the price of Drew Doughty up on the Kings and possibly stealing him away if Dean Lombardi is that dumb (he’s not), I’d rather go fishing for Brayden Coburn now that the Flyers are in a tough spot, trying to make some elbow room for Bryz.  It just seems more likely to me and I’ve always wanted Coburn to be a Duck ever since the Pronger trade, no offense to Luca Sbisa.

*******

As I noted above, last weekend was my first ever organized hockey game.  I joined the Anaheim Ice Spring Rookie League and I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts and observations before Game Two (tomorrow 10:15 pm Anaheim Ice NHL Rink if anyone’s interested).

My team is called Flashback (we didn’t get to choose the name, and frankly I don’t really know what it means).  We were assigned teal jerseys just before our game last week against Train Wreck (a younger, faster team clad in grey).  We ended up losing a 2-1 heart breaker as Tran Wreck scored the game winner with only 30 seconds left on the clock.

I wear number 49, because it was the smallest jersey they had left when I got into the locker room (XL).  When I sat down to start changing I realized that it looks a little too much like 99 for my taste, but not enough to go XXL.  I signed up to play right wing, mostly because I’m not confident enough in my backward skating ability to volunteer for defense and I’m a right shot.  I ended up on the first line, so called because we were the first on the ice, not because we were the best (although I’d like to think we had our moments). 

There was some confusion over how many players we had on several occasions.  First, there was the issue of dividing the team up in terms of positions.  We had one extra forward and were one defenseman short for the first four or five shifts.  As such I missed my second shift with the first line so we could rotate our extra forward in.  C’est la vie. 

Eventually we figured it out, but we also had an issue of too many men on the ice for long stretches of time, this according to my fan club after the game (thanks for coming out Amy, Julie and Matt).  Luckily, the only person on the ice who noticed and/or cared was someone on our bench as opposed to one of the referees (who were actually pretty cool). 

As for my play in the game, I’d say I was about 50/50.  I only fell down on my own once, and I got juked out of my jock on Train Wreck’s first goal (so did the defenseman behind me and another guy back in our zone) and I had a Jeff Friesen moment where I pulled up on a scoring chance to wait for someone to pass to.  But I also had a couple good outlet passes, I felt good about my backchecking, and as the game wore on our line’s shifts seemed to improve overall in terms of offensive zone time, puck possession and scoring chances. 

At the end of the day it was a fun experience and after two post game jello-shots in the locker room all I wanted to do was get right back out there and make up for the mistakes I made.  So, that’s a good sign.  Hopefully the experience will pay off tomorrow and we’ll pull out our first win.

New-ish Hockeytalk

I’ve been slacking, but it’s tough to write about the Ducks when A) nothing is going  on with the team and B) there is other really interesting things going on in the league right now.  Anyway, I’ll try to get back on the horse in the upcoming days and weeks, maybe with some other playoff blogging maybe with some updates on my first organized hockey experience. 

In the mean time here’s a Hockeytalk piece that I wrote on Friday with my favorites for the Conn Smythe this year (one for each remaining team).  Note:  I have Ryane Clowe and Marty St. Louis for San Jose and Tampa respectively, even though the more likely winners for those teams are Joe Thornton and Dwayne Roloson.

Catching Up on Hockeytalk Links

So, I think I’m finally recovered from the pain and suffering of the Ducks’ first round exit.  It took almost two weeks but there are very few reminders out there now, and if Vancouver would just get to business and take care of Nashville it would help.

Anyway, I realized that I have been a little lacking in posting my Hockeytalk links here during the playoffs so here are all my links from the post season from newest to oldest.  Note:  some are desperately out of date (i.e. first round previews)

What Makes the Playoffs so Great?  Part 3:  Surprise Playoff Performers

What Makes the Playoffs so Great?  Part 2:  Crazy Week

NHL, NBC Announce 10-yr. Deal

What Makes the Playoffs so Great? Part 1:  Sheer Volume

Playoff Picks:  In which I dominated the first round and am in the process of crashing and burning in the second.

Detroit/Phoenix Preview

Boston/Montreal Preview

I Told You I Was Freaky

The stretch run is a stressfull time for most hockey fans.  Whether your team is fighting tooth and nail to hold onto a playoff spot, dangling by a thread to stay in the chase or even jockeying for a division crown, all the scoreboard watching, one goal games, three point games and even four point games can wear on you.  Yesterday was a break from all that for most fans of Western Conference teams.  The Kings and Sharks were the only game on tap in the West and the only thing on the line was the surely (don’t call me Shirley) inevitable Sharks clinching the Pacific Division Title, which they did, and the Kings will have to wait at least another night to be officially invited to the playoffs.

Adding to the break were some quirky links that I’d like to share.  First, a wacky collection of NHL Logo Mashups that Puck Daddy brought to the masses from a message board on reddit (here are a few more from HFBoards)  My personal favorite is the running Coyote with a Minnesota Wild head, and then there is the ultimate decedance of the Red Winged Flaming Buffaslug, and Philadelphia’s logo seems to go with just about anything.

Then there was a post from Houses of the Hockey on TheScore.com that suggested some new playoff rituals in addition to growing a playoff beard or not washing your lucky team memorabilia.  A fun to be sure, why not adopt a flock of Ducks and live amongst them in solidarity with the team’s namesake, but it was all leading up to one picture at the bottom of the post. 

SPOILER ALERT: A picture a Canadiens fan dressed in Habs themed priest attire giving communion to a dog in the streets of Montreal.  Must be seen to be beleived.

Anyway, the point of this pointless post is that it was nice to have a break and lighten the mood to start the final week of the regular season, which could get quite intense for the Ducks.

Tonight the Ducks are idle but Dallas begins their incredibly easy last four games by hosting Columbus, and Chicago can put Calgary one point away from official elimination with a win in the land of Catholic dogs.

Ducks Lose Two, Fans Unjustifiably Outraged; New Hockeytalk

Housekeeping first, Check out my newest contribution to Hockeytalk.biz:  Key cast shadow over Kings’ stretch run.

****

March may have gone out like a lamb for the Ducks but April has come in like a lion.  After an 11-3-0 month of March the Ducks have dropped their first two April dates, and in the case of Sunday’s loss to Dallas, a chance to punch their own ticket to the playoffs.  The losses to the Sharks and Stars were the Ducks’ first back to back losses since they dropped five straight in February. 

There was some genuine vitriol from fans and even from Randy Carlyle after Saturday’s 4-2 loss in San Jose, mostly due to the fact that Lubomir Visnovsky left the game with an apparent shoulder injury after a third period hit from Douglas Murray.  To me, the hit was maybe a little bit late, but really the only reason that it was of any note is because Lubo went down awkwardly and a large man fell on top of him.  Obviously this is on a much smaller scale in terms of the result and the exposure, but it is essentially the same thing as the Chara/Pachioretty incident.  I doubt that Air Canada or the San Jose police will have anything to say on the matter.

The other source of unrest regarding the Sharks game was a result of the penalty called against Jason Blake that lead to the eventual game winner.  The problem that I have with that indignation is that it was an obvious penalty and the Ducks had, at that point, all of the power play chances in the game, they were due and had to be walking on eggshells not to catch the eyes of one of the referees.  Now you might think that it was a dumb penalty to take in that situation, but there I disagree as well.  The puck was loose in the crease and had Blake not molested Ryane Clowe it was a goal anyway.  Two minutes well worth it, as they say. 

As for the Dallas game, I admit to being one of the pitchfork carrying masses on this one.  Had I written this blog immediately upon arriving home, it would have gotten a ten out of ten on the Boudreau scale of vulgarity.  Now, after a few hours of reflection and further review of the replays, I think the right calls were made.  The DucksTV insert at the bottom of this Puck Daddy post has a lot of reaction and the two pertinent replays.  Both Teemu Selanne and Bobby Ryan scored goals that were waived off, the former due to goaltender interference by Saku Koivu and the latter on a hand pass from Corey Perry.  No question on the hand pass.  The goalie interference was closer but from the low angle replay you can really see how much Kari Lehtonen was affected by the bump from Koivu. 

I am still disgusted, however with the fact that Mike Ribeiro was allowed to play and ultimately score two critical goals in that game.  On Saturday Ribeiro laid a text book rule 48 lateral hit to the head of Michal Handzus of the Kings.  Not only was there no call on the ice, he was not suspended or fined and the only person that even mentioned the hit, to my knowledge, was Craig Button on NHL On the Fly that night. 

Unrelated sidenote:  I don’t know what the criteria are for the league’s new policy of 15 minutes in a quiet place for anyone who may be suspected to have a concussion, but it seems like Handzus should have been taken off the ice, after that hit, regardless of the fact that he got up relatively quickly. 

Two things I did like from the Ducks/Stars game:  1) they showed the replay of the goaltender interference on the big screen at the game.  It didn’t make much difference, as just about everyone in the building was too pissed to care what it showed, but it was nice to see something from the video staff at the Pond, when usually they try to keep the controversial stuff under wraps.  2) A sellout crowd fully invested in the result of the game.  This was by far the best crowd the Ducks have had all year, a packed house with very few opposition fans and everyone into the game.  The prolonged booing over perceived injustice that bled into a standing ovation of encouragement for the team to overcome said perceived injustice was a great thing to participate in/see/hear from a crowd that can be less than engaged, at times.  It was a playoff crowd hoping to see a playoff bound team by the end of the night, and we were not amused that we’d have to wait at least another few days to be assured of a postseason, if at all.

The Ducks’ magic number is still four.  If they win two of their remaining three games, or win one and lose the others in OT/Shootout they’ll clinch a spot regardless of what any team below them does, and they can still make it if that doesn’t happen, but it would be a dangerous way to go into the playoffs.

Bonus Saturday Blog: Vulnerable Teams?

While I was walking the dog this morning, I had this idea to look at which teams, currently in a playoff spot, are most vulnerable to being knocked out by the Ducks.  Since the standings change from hour to hour in the West these days, I decided not to wait until Monday.  Hopefully by Monday this post will make no sense, because the Ducks will have beaten Phoenix and moved into the top eight on their own. 

Here are the standings of the teams that I consider still in contention after Friday’s games.

	Team	DIV	GP	W	L	OT	Pts	ROW
1	Vancouver	NW	69	44	16	9	97	40
2	Detroit	CEN	68	40	20	8	88	36
3	San Jose	PAC	68	39	22	7	85	34
4	Dallas	PAC	68	37	23	8	82	32
5	Chicago	CEN	68	37	24	7	81	32
6	Los Angeles	PAC	68	38	25	5	81	31
7	Phoenix	PAC	69	35	23	11	81	31
8	Calgary	NW	70	36	25	9	81	28
9	Anaheim	PAC	68	37	26	5	79	33
10	Nashville	CEN	68	34	24	10	78	28
11	Minnesota	NW	69	35	27	7	77	33

 

So now let’s go through the teams in a playoff spot and see who is, in my estimation the most likely for the Ducks to knock out.

Cam, Lubo and Fandom

I’m running out of ways to say that the Ducks can’t afford to lose this game tonight In Colorado.  Before Wednesday’s game I said that the Ducks need to win 10 of their last 16 to have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs; that comes out to roughly a two-to-one win/loss ratio.  Since that stretch of five losses in a row, the Ducks have actually been above that pace going 4-1, with the only loss coming at the hands of the top team in the league.  The Avs have gone 1-7-2 in their last ten.  Colorado is a team that the Ducks should beat, which can be scary at times.  This is one of the games that the Ducks need to win in order to keep pace until they play a direct opponent, Phoenix on Sunday.  The Kings are in Columbus tonight and Dallas hosts Minnesota in the other two games of note for the Western Conference playoff race.

I didn’t get around to mentioning it yesterday, but Cam Fowler has had a rough go of it in the last two games.  He was hung out to dry on the first goal Sunday against Vancouver, his turnover in the first minute of the second period against Vancouver gave the Canucks a dominant position to play from, and he way overplayed the puck to give the Rangers an early lead Wednesday.  Dan Ellis has been solid, but with Hiller out, the Ducks need their defense to step up a little bit more and Lubomir Visnovski has been leading that charge.

Lubo is absolutely on fire right now offensively with five goals and seven points in his last three games,  and Randy Carlyle has clearly instructed him to shoot whenever possible because pucks are just going in for him right now.  In fact he’s had a great season overall, as of this morning he’s behind only Kieth Yandle of the Phoenix Coyotes in scoring by a defenseman with 54 points and tied for third in the league with 14 goals from the blueline.  Matt Vevoda of Anaheimducks.com wrote a nice story on Lubo yesterday, and as such many of the comments circled around his underratedness and the idea that he should be considered for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman.

In his notes from practice yesterday, Eric Stephens wrote that Randy Carlyle blamed the media for not lauding Lubo as a Norris candidate as he should be.  Stephens also  chose a quote from Bobby Ryan saying that Lubo isn’t in the Norris conversation as much as he should be because he “plays in a market that doesn’t support it like other teams do.”  The fact that this comment wasn’t seen as a slight ot the fans and didn’t create a firestorm of criticism supports that point, however it also speaks to the reasonable nature of a fan base that isn’t blindly loyal and fanatically reactionary, we’ve seen enough of that this week (Montreal I’m looking at you). 

There is a give and take to either extreme type of fan base.  Anaheim is not the extreme by the way, *cough* *cough* Atlanta *cough* but we’re toward the low end of the spectrum.  Montreal is a Mecca of hockey, the atmosphere at the Bell Centre has to be the best in the world, and the fans can be great, speaking of the ovation that Saku Koivu got upon his return, not to mention when he came back from cancer in 2002. 

However, the Montreal media and fans can also be blood sucking psychopaths.  Booing Carey Price in the first period of the pre-season this year was simply outrageous, and the hysteria over the Chara/Pacioretty hit is a joke.  The police caving to pressure from the fans to investigate the hit in order to right the perceived wrong committed by Mike Murphy and Hockey Ops for letting Chara off without a suspension is mind boggling.  There is a place for police investigation into on ice incidents, (e.g. Bertuzzi, McSorely, Chris Simon, etc. and even some of those are arguable) but this was miles from crossing that line. 

To make a long story short (too late) it would be nice to get some more national recognition, but it can be a double edged sword.

Ducks Beat Rangers 5-2

 

It was a great effort from just about everyone on the ice to beat the Rangers last night.  It was a slow start with Dan Ellis giving up a goal on the first shot of the game for the second time in as many games.  He made up for it, though with a sprawling save on Brandon Dubinsky that turned the play the other way for Bobby Ryan to score a great goal in the third period.

The best part of the victory was seeing how much the Ducks were going to the front of the net.  Whether it was driving the puck in off the walls, battling for rebounds or screening Henrik Lundqvist someone, especially Corey Perry, was almost always at the top of the crease. 

On the other side of the puck, the Rangers shocked me with their soft defense.  John Tortorella must not have been very happy when the game was over, because the Ducks walked right around and passed right through New York defensemen all night long.  Meanwhile, the Ducks’ physical presence came in the form of Luca Sbisa celebrating his new four year contract and 100th NHL game with a couple of crushing body checks.

I was unusually impressed with was Dan Sexton.  Over the course of this season I have been slowly but surely falling out of love with Big Sexy for one reason:  he never seems to be able to shoot the puck on net.  In this game he had some great forechecking shifts and a couple of shots right on Henrik Lundqvist, but just for good measure he had to throw in his patented streak in on the right wing and wrist one off the high glass from the top of the circles play. 

Yesterday I suggested that Koivu sit out one extra game to make sure the groin is completely healed, and apparently that extra game was Sunday’s tilt against Vancouver, because he looked fantastic.  There was one moment where he looked to be hopping over the boards somewhat gingerly, but it wasn’t evident in his play at all.  In fact he made my favorite play of the night, of which there seems to be no isolated highlight, where he flipped a nasty little saucer pass to Teemu in full stride at the faceoff dot.  The puck didn’t go in, but it was an exhibition of why those two work so well together. 

Another correction from yesterday, I said that the Ducks would make their way into the eight seed with a win over the Rangers, but that didn’t quite take into account the Kings beating the (good for nothing) Red Wings and a miscalculation of games played.  As such, the Ducks currently sit in tenth, two points behind Phoenix who holds down the final playoff spot.

As a parting shot, I guess I’ll weigh in on the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty, even though it is the same as most other reasonable hockey people and the NHL.  It was a hockey play gone horribly, horribly wrong.  It was interference and unfortunately Pacioretty ended up face first in the glass between the benches, causing a severe concussion and a broken vertebra.  The way I see it, the NHL couldn’t suspend Chara any more than they could suspend Shane Doan for hitting Ryan Getzlaf in the face with a shot.  I’m not trivializing the injury at all, but the fact of the matter is that hockey is a very dangerous game and shit happens. 

Best wishes to Pacioretty on his recovery.

Hockeytalk: Penner, Canucks

 

My two newest Hockeytalk pieces posted yesterday:  One on the Kings’ acquisition of former Duck Dustin Penner and one on the Vancouver Canucks playing some mediocre hockey but still being the best team in the league. 

This whole year, I’ve been under the impression that the Kings are the real deal and that they could take the next step in the playoffs, actually winning a round or two, but after Saturday’s game, I have some misgivings.  It seems to me that they have a bit of an attitude issue.  Drew Doughty’s outburst after Daniel Sedin scored what would eventually stand up as the game winning goal is exhibit number one. 

Sure Daniel pushed him a bit and got away with it, but you’ve got to roll with the punches.  Refs miss calls, there’s nothing you can do about it.  I very rarely call a player whinny, because usually it seems to me that’s the label opposition fans put on players that are too good to say anything bad about. However, in this case, when he gets up and literally goes over to the referee jumping up and down waving his arms around like a five year old in a K-Mart, there’s no other word for it.

Dustin Brown, the team’s captain also seems to take losses extremely hard.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but this is the time of year when the old cliché, you can’t get too high on the wins or too low on the losses, comes into effect.

The worst part of it was that Head Coach Terry Murray was in on it too.  I was in the Vancouver locker room at the time, but supposedly Murray refused to take any questions during the post game press conference, just walked in, said “It was a God Damn shame,” and walked away. 

It was a big loss for the Kings, and they could have won it to make a big impact on their playoff hopes, but there were a lot of other factors that went into the loss, like, only taking five shots in the first period, or how about going 0-6 on the power play. 

I imagine that this was just a buildup of frustrations that boiled over in a bad way, but still it doesn’t look good for their chances if it’s not just a one off type of thing.

As for the Ducks, they have 16 games remaining.  one against the Rangers tomorrow night, two against Colorado and one against St. Louis.  All of the rest of their games are against Western Conference teams in that three to 12 window where every game is a four pointer.  Chicago and San Jose are starting to run away and become more indirect competition for the Ducks but of their last 16 the Ducks will need to win ten to reach 95 points and make the playoffs, by my estimation.  They can’t afford to lose back to back games the rest of the way, so having lost to Vancouver Sunday night, tomorrow’s game becomes huge.  Two points by any means necessary against an Eastern Conference opponent.  Their backs are against the wall.  It’s time to see what they’ve got.