Unacceptable. Ducks lose 7-2 in Calgary

Final Score:  Ducks 2, Flames 7

After three straight losses, Bruce Boudreau decided to completely mix up the line combinations and started the game like so:

Patrick Maroon Ryan Getzlaf Corey Perry

Kyle Palmieri Mathieu Perreault Tim Jackman (!?)

Daniel Winnik Saku Koivu Teemu Selanne

Andrew Cogliano Nick Bonino Jacob Silfverberg

Also Ben Lovejoy was out sick so Luca Sbisa stepped into the lineup paired with Cam Fowler.

First Period Recap: Calgary opened the scoring only 3:39 into the game as Mark Giordano's point shot deflected off of the stick of Kyle Palmieri and over Jonas Hiller's right shoulder off the post and in.  Bad luck, but a long way to go to make up for it.

Two minutes later Kevin Westgarth went off for hooking Francois Beauchemin, who clamped down on the stick a little bit to draw the call, apparently under the impression that a power play would be to the Ducks advantage for some reason.  It was not.  The Flames got a 2-on-1 that resulted in a relatively easy glove save by Hiller, but on the next shift scored shorthanded on a 3-on-1(ish).  Beauch and Perreault got caught both pinching in on the wall to spring the Flames, Perreault couldn't get back in time to cut off the pass from Paul Byron to TJ Galiardi who just had to redirect it in.  Boudreau called his time out to try and put a halt to the panic.

The best Ducks chance of the first half of the period came when Ladislav Smid dumped the puck right into his goaltender's feet, but Joni Ortio made the save and the Ducks couldn't capitalize on the rebound.

Anaheim tried to get back into the game by turning up the physical presence, it didn't do much to turn the tide though.  Just less than 11 minutes in Hampus Lindholm was called for hooking and the Ducks went on a HUGE penalty kill.  Michael Cammaleri made it 3-0 off of a rebound from Giordano's point shot.  Mikel Backlund was screening in front and Hiller kicked out a fat rebound that was no problem for Cammaleri to put away through the five hole.

Hiller's night was done at that point as Frederik Andersen entered the game.  It didn't start well for him, after making a save or two, Backlund just tossed the puck toward Byron on the far post and as Andersen reached to sweep it to the side it went off of his stick and in the net for a 4-0 Calgary lead with six and a half left in the first period on only eight shots.

Bryan Allen and Bryan McGratton decided to fight, because why the hell not.  As you would expect Allen got the worst of it.

Perry had a point blank chance, but Giordano "accidentally" knocked the net off.  There was some very minor contact with Getzlaf and Giordano that preceded the net coming off, but it was incidental at best.  No penalty.

Chris Butler took a holding the stick penalty with just nine seconds left in the first and the penalty carried over as the merciless period finally came to a close.

Second Period Recap: The Ducks never got anything set up on the PP and Backlund made it 5-0 on a shorthanded 3-on-1.  He looked off his passing options and put it five hole on Andersen.

Only about a minute later Palmieri took a hooking penalty in front of the Anaheim net.  The Ducks killed it, and Beauch had the best shot during the penalty, but who really cares?

Trying to have something vaguely positive to discuss around the midway point of the game the FSW broadcast decided to bring up the fact that The Hockey News rated the Ducks as the number one prospect pool in the league.  That only applies if the team isn't folded for this disgraceful performance.

More non game related good news from the broadcast, Stephane Robidas is working some battle drills into his practices, indicating that he's close to joining the team.

Cogliano scored off of a great pass from behind the net by Silfverberg.  Ortio completely lost the puck as Silfverberg changed directions behind the goal and Cogs hammered it into the open side of the net from the top of the crease.  5-1.

How bad was this game?  McGrattan nearly scored on a breakaway.  Beauch caught up to him, but even so, his fake shot pulled Andersen so far out of his net that the puck went behind the Ducks goaltender and right through the crease.

Smid restored the five goal lead with just over a minute left in the period after Byron drove the puck right into the crease, gathered his own rebound and fed Smid coming in late to the play.  The former Duck prospect took one touch to settle the puck and snapped it past the glove of Andersen from the hash marks.

Allen tattooed the post on the next shift and Joe Colborne put some moves on Andersen when he was left all alone in front, but the period still ended 6-1.

Third Period Recap: It would have taken the biggest comeback/collapse in the history of the universe or something massively controversial to make the third period worth watching.  Jackman seemed to have scored, but the whistle had blown and it was waved off on the ice.  They reviewed the call and ruled that the ruling on the ice stood because the goalie's arm was pushed into the goal.  Not quite true, and it shouldn't have mattered anyway since the whistle was blown.  Weird, but not enough to make it worthwhile.

The crowd did the wave to entertain themselves during this crap heap of a period of "hockey."

Bonino scored with Fowler leading the rush and giving Bones a nice backhand pass which he ripped past Ortio, deep in his crease, in stride.  6-2 Calgary.

Calgary had a full minute of 5-on-3 in the middle of the period, but thankfully didn't score.

A line of Slfverberg, Maroon and Bonino put together a decent little shift of pressure and action in front of the Flames' net, but to no avail.

Corban Knight finished it off with a goal off of a completely broken play where Calgary had a couple of clean looks at the net with the Ducks D and Andersen floundering all over the place to make the final score 7-2.

*****

No good, no bad, all ugly.  This game was simply disgusting from start to finish, up and down the lineup.

Try to find one of those neurolizers from Men in Black and just forget about it.

Next Game: Friday, March 14 at Colorado, 6 pm PT