Ducks Lack Consistency
Ducks Weekly Recap
by Karen Francis
Hockeytalk.biz

WEEKLY RECAP – December 2, 2007 -- ANAHEIM, CA -- Although November finished better than October, the Ducks ended the month and a busy week on a down note. The Ducks were at .500 (2-2-0) for the week’s games, but their efforts were alternately good, bad, good, bad. They are lacking an overall consistency in their play and it is reflected in the standings.

GAMES

Last Sunday the Ducks played the Kings for the third time this month. The Ducks had a poor first period and were trailing 2-0 going into the second period. They finished strong in the final two periods with Ryan Getzlaf getting two goals and Chris Kunitz getting the game winner with just three minutes left in the game. The Ducks were able to kill off a 5 on 3 penalty at the very end to keep the lead and defeat the Kings for the third time in a row. The Ducks finished up their 10 game Pacific Division series 6-2-2, earning 14 out of 20 possible points.

On Monday the Ducks left for Canada and played against Vancouver on Tuesday night. The 4-0 shut out was not the result Todd Bertuzzi wanted in his first trip back to Vancouver since being traded two years ago. Bertuzzi’s warm reception and an excellent first period were the bright spots. It all went downhill from there. The Ducks were undisciplined and got into penalty trouble. They gave the Canucks ten consecutive power plays, including five separate 5 on 3 opportunities.

On Thursday the Ducks rebounded from their horrible performance in Vancouver with an improved performance against Calgary. The bounces went their way and they were a much more disciplined hockey team. The Ducks got scoring even strength, on their sole power play opportunity and short handed. Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 38 of 39 shots on goal in the 4-1 win.

The Ducks finished their Canadian road trip against Edmonton on Friday. Once again the Ducks could not sustain good play for 60 minutes, could not convert on consecutive power plays in the second period, and got into undisciplined penalty trouble in the third period. After being tied 1-1 through most of the first two periods, Calgary took over in the final minute of the second period and ended the game with a 5-1 win.