[Ed. Note: SK wrote this. I'm posting due to technical issues.]
I have a very low tolerance for all of this losing. It was getting old three weeks ago, and I'm really tired of stretching to look for the positives after each loss. The Ducks got a point. Yay. I think, with the way things are going, we as Ducks fans are supposed to be happy about that - I am not. I'm starting to wonder if maybe the Ducks should only play the final minutes of the game trailing by a goal or two. As shown by their play, the other 55 minutes are a waste of time and energy, so why bother? Let's just fast forward ahead to what they deem to be crucial playing minutes and decipher the outcome based on that.
Thankfully, the Ducks get another crack at this Los Angeles team. Another go-round to try and make it look like they want to win a hockey game. Unfortunately, they'll have to battle their biggest opponent again, themselves. Maybe they'll take less stupid penalties or take more than a few shots in the first period.
Or not.
As a fan base, we tend to get angry when Coach Randy Carlyle changes the forward line combinations so quickly after a loss or two. Yet, here we are, 3 weeks down with minimal wins...and all I want to see is some experimentation. Let these guys play with some strangers for a while because, lets face it, they aren't exactly playing as if they know each other so well. Maybe a few new faces and they'll get back to playing basic elementary style hockey.
Sure, we can say, "but hey that second line was scoring and the first line will get it figured out"! Yes, the second line WAS scoring and the first line should already have it figured out. Let's split up the wonder twins and the Finns. Let's throw some of those grinding hard working 4th liners in the mix and change it up for a game or two. What difference will it make? It's not like they're winning with the formula they're working with now. Get creative! Let's add Bobby Ryan to the Andrew Cogliano, Teemu Selanne line and get really crazy and put Ryan Getzlaf between Matt Beleskey and Devante Smith-Pelly. Why not? What destruction could possibly come of this? The Ducks won't score ANY goals? Yea, cause we haven't seen that happen already.
Here's a thought: throw Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan back on the penalty kill. No, not because that unit isn't performing well with its current players, but because those two aren't performing well and could benefit from a little more playing time to stay in the game. The Ducks clearly aren't going to start a new trend of staying out of the box and Perry definitely benefited from the extra ice time last season.
Defensively, why not put our best guys together? Toni Lydman and Francois Beauchemin might be the best thing we've got right now. Put them together. Our best D-men played together last season, so why not try that again? Throw the kids Luca Sbisa and Cam Fowler together and let the goof balls Sheldon Brookbank and Kurtis Foster fool around with those spare minutes.
I'd like too see this team get really desperate before doing anything crazy. We all know that Bob Murray and Randy Carlyle aren't going anywhere and I'd hate to see the team do something outlandish like trade away the big guys. The likelihood that a move like that will terrorize Ducks fans for the rest of our lives is quite frankly terrifying.
So, with each game, we hope that this is the one. The game that will bring upon the change we've all been hoping for. Whether that change is a crazy set of line combinations or defensive pairings that we've never seen before, or the team actually playing like, I don't know, a team...something has to give here. Soon. Very, very soon. A month ago we were celebrating a great start with signs pointing towards a different kind of season. Today, we're hoping to score more than 1 goal and to not give up 5!
Just don't let tonight be disastrous.
GO DUCKS!!!