Well, well, well, what a difference three games make. The Ducks have "turned the corner" at least for the weekend, and have strung together three wins in a row. What I like thus far is the fact that defense is playing a much more unified game.
As I watched the post game show on television, Johny Alhers summed it up nicely by asking the question, is this the Ducks team that we thought we would see this year? Hazy replied with a resounding "yes." I agree. There's so much talent on the team, I was hoping that all it would take would be a few weeks to gel. Well, although this does not guarantee a playoff spot, its always a good thing when the home team wins their home stand. So here are the highlights from the weekend.
The lightning came to town with Stamkos carrying them on his back, and they did not disappoint. The lightning skated fast and furious and brought the best out of the Ducks, for sure! Defense was key tonight because there were many missed opportunities for rebound goals, that were swept away by Ducks D-men. I truly believe that what the Ducks lost in Scott Niedermayer, they gained in terms of speed. Scotty was great, like a wise Jedi night...but even Ben Kanobi knew he had to step aside for the younger talent.
The Pens came to Anaheim with a vendetta! For some reason the Pens were pissed off about something that Getzlaf did, because Crosby was giving him the business the entire night. Maybe these two were pissed because someone got more attention than the other during the Olympics. Whatever the case may be, I think the Pens were so distracted by their anger for Getz and the Ducks, that they tried to play the physical game and lost, as many people often do when trying to knock the Ducks around.
The Preds had an answer for everything the Ducks threw at them. Unfortunately, tonight's game was not about goal tending, as anyone from the cheap seats could score a goal. Since both nets had massive holes in them, (I do blame Hiller for not helping out the D) the strategy for tonight's game seemed to be to run out the clock. Had this game gone five minutes more, the Ducks would have lost...period! Defense was skating and moving their feet, and unlikely scorers were doing their job, but Hiller just could not stop the flooding, and neither could the Preds. Thankfully, the last Ducks goal came with just 1.7 seconds left in the game for a close call finish. As the old saying goes, it wasn't pretty, but it was a win.
Next up for the Ducks....the Sharks. Lets see if the Ducks can redeem their last loss to the guppies, and keep the streak alive. For right now, I'll settle for a .500 Ducks team, 5 points out of 1st in their division.
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