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NHL: Ducks

DUCKS LOOK LIKE ROAD KILL

FEBRUARY 3, 2008 -- ANAHEIM -- The Ducks continue to struggle. The six game winning streak has been negated by a six game losing streak. Offense appears to be non-existent and after Saturday’s game, it had been 155 minutes since a puck found the back of the net for the Ducks. Nothing is coming easily.

Sami Pahlsson's abdominal strain has caused him to miss 23 games as of Feb. 3.  He saw his specialist in Philadelphia during the current road trip.  Ryan Carter and Todd Marchant have replaced him in those games.

Corey Perry commented, “It’s all mental right now. We’re battling. We’re trying out there. When things don’t go your way, you have to stay mentally focused and try to figure out a way to get out of thing.”

Coach Randy Carlyle put it more succinctly, “We just can’t find a way to create some offense even when we have glorious opportunities.” What could help with the offensive woes?

SELANNE’S BACK

Teemu Selanne decided that retirement was not for him and signed a one-year pro-rated contract with the Ducks on Monday morning. Selanne began skating on his own after the birth of his daughter, Veera, in December. As he felt better and better, he determined it was time to play again. His return to the line up was unknown, but he is trying to get back to game speed as soon as possible. “I really want to be patient. I have been skating regularly the last three weeks, but this intensity, you can’t pick it up just like that.”

Teemu continues to practice and do additional skating with the team, and it looks likely that he will play at some point next week. When asked what he still needed, Selanne answered “Game tempo, legs, timing.” He also acknowledged that a few days with the team made a huge difference over skating on his own. “It’s what I need!” Considering the Ducks performance of late, they need Selanne as well.

GAMES

The Ducks started their road trip in Minnesota, a game that went fine against the Wild until the second period. The Wild started the second with goals from Brian Rolston, Marian Gaborik and Mikko Koivu within a 1:56 time span. Jean-Sebastien Giguere was taken out of goal at that point, the second time in two games, and Jonas Hiller handled the rest of the game. Giguere commented, “I’m not mad at Randy (Carlyle) for pulling me. I probably would have done the same thing. I’m mad because we’ve lost four in a row. It starts by me. I have to a do a better job and make sure I give my team a chance to win. It’s just not the way I wanted to start this big road trip.” Hiller gave up only two more goals – a late goal in the second period by Pierre-Marc Bouchard and a late third period goal by James Sheppard. The Ducks’ only goal came from Corey Perry midway through the second period after a power play had just expired. The only positives from the game was a 70% success rate in the face off circle and killing all three Wild power plays. The negatives were too many to list, but Chris Pronger stated, “We have to put in better performances than that. When you’re playing well, you make it look easy. And when you’re not playing to the best of your abilities or capabilities, the game looks very hard.”

On Friday the Ducks met up with the St. Louis Blues for the first time since trading Andy McDonald for Doug Weight. The Ducks did not score in regulation or overtime, and neither did the Blues. Both goalies earned technical shut-outs, giving Jean-Sebastien Giguere his 28th career shutout, a franchise best passing Guy Hebert’s 27 shutouts. It was bittersweet, not unlike when Giguere won the Conn Smythe trophy for playoff MVP in 2003 after losing game 7 to the New Jersey Devils. Not much to celebrate. Manny Legace continued to shut out the Ducks in the shootout as well, stopping both Ryan Getzlaf and Todd Bertuzzi. McDonald called upon his knowledge of Giguere, his former roommate, and roofed his first attempt in the shootout. Brad Boyes sealed the deal with his goal as well and the Ducks left with one point from a game that was their best effort in a long time. Carlyle observed, “Our group worked extremely hard. We battled in every area of the rink. I thought it was a huge accomplishment for the way we’ve been playing the previous games.” Close doesn’t count, though, except in hand grenades and horseshoes.

Sami Pahlsson, who was initially thought to be out a mere 10 days back in December, remains on IR with a pesky abdominal strain that just won’t finish healing. He revisited a specialist in Vancouver on Friday with hopes that treatment there will be beneficial to the healing process. “I’m pretty hopeful. Lately, it’s been feeling better. I just want to make sure I don’t rush it and hurt it again. (We’ll) see how I react in the next few days.” Pahlsson also consulted in Philadelphia with the surgeon who did his sports hernia surgery and further surgery was deemed unnecessary.

ROSTER MOVES

There were no roster moves, other than adding Selanne, and that was in name only as he did not play at all. Ryan Carter sat out against St. Louis and Philadelphia and Todd Marchant stepped up onto the checking line. Brian Sutherby was inserted in Marchant’s place on the fourth line.

SPECIALTY TEAMS

The penalty kill seems to be functioning and the Ducks are not taking excessive penalties each game. This week they increased slightly to 81.6%, still at 17th, tied with Montreal. The Ducks killed 8 of 9 penalties this week. The only one they did not kill was against Philadelphia, the #1 power play unit in the league.

The power play, on the other hand, is non-existent, finishing 0 for 11 on the week. The numbers continued to drop this week to 16.1%, and the club’s fell to 22nd in the league. In the St. Louis game, one power play goal would have meant a win, not a loss. Although there is a lack of scoring overall, the power play numbers are putrid of late.

THE STANDINGS

The Ducks have 61 points with a 27-22-7 record. They remain 3rd in the Pacific Division behind San Jose (65 points) and Dallas (67 points). While it had been a closer race, the Ducks have lost plenty of ground during the past two weeks. They remain 5th overall in the Western Conference, but are only three points out of a playoff spot altogether. Fans wonder when a sense of urgency or desperation will appear in the club’s play.

THE WEEK AHEAD

ANAHEIM DUCKS

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MORE DUCKS COVERAGE BY KAREN FRANCIS:

Selanne Returns (Jan 28, 2008)

Ducks Ponder Losses During Break (Jan 28, 2008)

Snoop Dogg and the Ducks on E! Reality Show

Ducks Take Show on Road
(Jan 21, 2008)

Offense Found (Jan 14, 2008)

Ducks Start New Year Right
(Jan 6, 2008)

Ducks Lapse into Old Habits After Christmas (Dec 31, 2007)

Haili's Hero (special feature on Drew Miller)