ARTHUR:
The Ducks put their 9-game winning streak on the line at the Pond tonight, but it's side-by-side with their 8-game losing streak against California teams and 5-game losing streak against the Kings.
According to The OC Register, Toskala's in town wearing 36, but Left Wing Lock has an unconfirmed Hiller/Quick matchup for tonight. The lines figure to be the same, with Jason Blake coming off his first Ducks goal and the Bottom 6 showing up on the scoreboard last game.
Voting for Whitney/Wisniewski closes at 8:30 tonight, but I think we can call the race for Whitney. The 6'4" defenseman has a graduated contract, with a 3.5M salary this year and a 5.5M salary in 2012-13. That contract, which he earned by virtue of a 59 point (22% of team scoring) season with the Pens in 06-07, seemed to be a big problem for Whitney voters, even though Wisniewski is only making 750K less this season. In their time together, Pronger attempted to teach Whitney how to front players in the West, and that's emblematic of the BU alum's trouble with the physicality in the Ducks game, to say nothing of his ability to play the system and not make a first pass into the middle of the ice (which is really easy to do in Pittsburgh). So, introducing your choice for the worst Ducks defenseman to sport the 'W' above the numbers: Ryan Whitney.
Tonight is Bon Jovi night at The Pond. I'm dating myself here, but I was a big Bon Jovi fan as a kid. I mean still-own-a-cassette-copy-of-Runaway-somewhere, air-guitared-the-I'll-Be-There-For-You-solo-on-a-regular-basis fan. That being said, he effectively died for me sometime in 1991, after the Young Guns II soundtrack but before he recorded Bed of Roses. So I consider tonight a retro night. RIP good Bon Jovi songs.
Post any game info and lineup changes in the comments.
FOWL!