DANIEL:

The Ducks needed to pick up where they left off and keep themselves in the middle of the playoff race.  Sadly they decided to go absentee and ended up dropping a 4-3 decision to the Colorado Avalanche.  To be fair, the Ducks only had 5 defensemen tonight as they were waiting for new additions Lubomir Visnovsky and Aaron Ward to join the team.  Still, a lack of effort by the forward corp to protect an overworked blueline led to defensive mistakes in the second period.  Penalty killing continued to be a major hindrance as the Avalanche managed to notch 3 PP goals.  

Every two points is important, and the Ducks have just started the home stretch in the worst way possible, surrendering a lead, and failing to capitalize on an opportunity to gain ground.  I have high hopes that the new additions will prevent a night like this from happening again.  The Ducks have to chalk this up to Olympic hangover and come out swinging for their next game against Phoenix this weekend.