Despite being a 5-4 final, Friday night’s shootout loss to Atlanta was less than exciting. With the arena less than half filled, knowing very few of the Atlanta players, and a slow trap-filled Atlanta pace it was a hard game to get involved in as a fan; almost like turning the clock back to the preseason.
One thing that I did notice from Atlanta was Dustin Byfuglien. First of all, playing him at defense, as has been noted in many media outlets, completely nullifies his annoying talents in front of the net. More than that though, on one particular breakout he shocked me with some of the most casual skating I have ever seen.
Sure, he was just following the forward carrying the puck out of the zone, it wasn’t the quickest pace and therefore wasn’t necessary for him to power up the ice, but he wasn’t even bending his knees. He was just gliding around the rink like it was a public skate.
Regardless of the pace of the game the Ducks let one slip away on Friday. As tough as it may be to lose a game with a lead going into the final five minutes of regulation, that type of game is something Ducks fans may need to get used to this season. Scoring plenty of goals but giving up just as many was the preseason line on this team, and on this three game home stand they made the best of it twice.
Saturday, thanks to my girlfriend’s prowess in picking orange pucks, we had the opportunity to see the Ducks practice at Honda Center and meet backup goaltender extraordinaire Curtis McElhinney.
The best thing about the event was the details. Sitting right on the glass we were close enough to the action to see sweat dripping off of Joffrey Lupul’s nose as he skated with an unidentified man in Ducks sweats, who may or may not have been injured Syracuse Crunch Duck forward Jason Jaffray.
One fun fact that we learned from the up close and personal seats was that Jason Blake uses about a roll and a half of tape on each shin pad. Also George Parros straps his jersey down even in practice. We assumed this was just out of habit, but a couple of playful scraps did break out. The unlikely combatants were Saku Koivu vs. Ryan Carter and Ryan Getzlaf vs. Sheldon Brookbank, of all people.
There was some concern among the die-hards at the practice when Corey Perry left about halfway through the session. Luckily it was nothing serious as Eric Stephens reported later that day for the OC Register, Perry skipped the rest of the practice after colliding with Getzlaf and bruising his butt.
It was especially good news, that Perry wasn’t seriously hurt as he turned out to be the first star of the game one Sunday with the game winning goal and an assist.
The top line was dominant in both games over the weekend which opened up some space for production from the back end. Toni Lydman had a goal in each of his first two games as a Duck. A pleasant surprise from someone who hadn’t played since April and was only expected to provide a veteran defensive presence.
The big story of Sunday’s game though was Cam Fowler. The kid had a heck of a second period, even if it only lasted nine minutes for him. He opened the scoring for the Ducks with his first NHL goal, which seemed to give him some extra confidence on the offensive side of the puck.
He had another grade A opportunity just seconds later on a one timer that sailed over the crossbar, and took an end to end rush cleanly beating two or three Phoenix defenders with some slick moves before getting taking a header into the end boards.
Fowler’s nose was bloodied and he did not return for the remainder of the game, but the extent of his injury still could be anything from a simple cut to a broken nose to a concussion.
Bobby Ryan reported via the OC Register that “Word is he’s OK,” but we’ll have to wait to see what team doctors say after medical evaluation today.
District 5 Hockey 