Well that was...upsetting.
It looked like the Ducks were showing consistency, having a dominating first period tonight after their Wednesday night win over Sharks. But apparently someone forgot to tell them that there are THREE periods and not ONE because the Ducks proceeded to get out played for the last 40 minutes of the game. [Ed. Note: Stop me if you've heard that one before...] I mean how does a team go from having 21 shots in the first period of a game,18 more in the third, and still end up getting shut out? As a fan I can only hope this is a minor hiccup in the overall play the Ducks have shown recently, and not a preview of more to come in the final four games.
Good:
-The first period: If Mike Smith didn't decided to play brick wall, there should have been at least three goals in the first period alone. The power play looked pretty good, the top lines were clicking, and everything but the goals were there. 10 scoring chances out of 21 shots isn't bad either, showing that the Ducks weren't just throwing the puck on net but actually generating quality scoring chances. The Ducks have had a lot of problems coming out strong in games, so it was refreshing to see them play so well in the first tonight.
-Every player except Cam Fowler had at least one shot on goal tonight. With Corey Perry gone a majority of the game, Bobby Ryan stepped up big with seven shots on goal and five missed shots.
-Young guys on the power play: It was really nice to see Nick Bonino and Devante Smith-Pelly get some consistent power play time. We've seen them get more and more opportunities on the PP as the season winds down, and they have done well in the limited time given. If some of the veterans choose to depart this off-season, it's important to let these guys get a taste of what's to come.
-I want to put more, I really do. But I can't really salvage a lot from tonight's loss. I didn't think Jeff Deslauriers was THAT bad tonight, and its hard to fault him for most of those goals tonight. Okay, thats really all I got. Lets get to the rest of this game...
Bad:
-What the heck happened to our PP? Seriously, what happened!!!! 0-5 with this much talent is a serious problem. Hopefully this season is some sort of weird "Twilight Zone" type joke and next season this incredibly talented group of players remembers how to score on the power play.
-And as if our Power Play problems weren't enough, now the Penalty Kill is suffering too. They let a team with a %13 PP go 2-3 tonight, and they made it look easy too. Bruce Boudreau has talked to the media a lot about the importance of special teams, maybe he should talk to his players, too. This team looked terrible anytime a penalty was taken, and that is not a good sign looking towards the future.
Ugly:
-What the heck happened on that first goal? How do you not realize that some one is coming out of the box?
-Mike Smith...he played great, but how in the world do you not score on Mike Smith with 44 shots? [Ed. Note: WHO THE HELL IS MIKE SMITH?!] The Ducks have this disturbing trend where they make every goalie look like a Vezina candidate. It's really frustrating to watch and I hope, like most of the things seen tonight, it's something we don't see from next years Ducks.
-The second period. What happened? 5 shots for, 16 shots against, 3 goals against, and Corey Perry's 19 PIM "incident" was just a horrendous sight to see. I could spend this entire page just tearing apart this period alone. The Perry incident shouldn't happen and the NHL needs to protect its stars because, even if they don't want to admit it, Corey Perry is a star in this league. The whole incident was inexcusable. What happened to Perry, how he reacted, and how the Ducks responded. You can not lose your best player when your down 2-0, and you can't put your team on the PK for that long either. It was immature and plain stupid, and hopefully Perry doesn't start going back to the days that he made those type of player regularly. Lets just please move on to the next game and forget tonight ever happened.