Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Ducks Gameday—Giving opponents an early lead

Anaheim Ducks (14-13-4, 8th in west) at Columbus Blue Jackets (13-11-5, 9th in west)


The third guest-art installment in
the spade-in-victorhell series.

Well, so far this is the last submission I've gotten from Spade, and a rather solid one, as it captures the drinky spirit of this blog. I've got to say that the timing of these guest cartoons has been splendid; my hockey attention span took a big hit this weekend with the unveiling of an Xbox 360 in the Sleek household. We don't have any hockey titles yet (heck, we haven't even gotten the thing online yet), but that doesn't mean I didn't spend the bulk of the weekend rolling objects up in the new Katamari Damacy.

As for the Ducks, lately the troubling trend has been giving up the first goal; the last time the Ducks scored first in a game was ten games ago in Dallas. The table below shows how games have opened since then; included is the time of the opening goal and also how many goals each opponent scored before the Ducks got on the board (if they got on the board):

Opponent

Opp first goalOpp lead built

PHX

9:46 1st EV

1-0

LAK

12:56 1st EV

2-0

@VAN

13:20 2nd EV

4-0

@CGY

3:08 1st PP

1-0

@EDM

2:12 1st PP

1-0

EDM

9:29 1st EV

4-0

BUF

4:07 1st EV

1-0

@CHI

1:07 1st PP

1-0

@NSH

5:52 1st EV

3-0


The Ducks' record in that stretch has been pretty good (4-4-1), considering their refusal to score first, as well as a huge disparity in power plays (ANA: 5 of 33, OPP: 10 of 56). Probably a better concentration in the opening ten minutes could greatly help the Ducks' record, and obviously if the power plays could be less lopsided that should help things out also.

Prediction (Katamari-style): Nah nah, na-na-na-na-na-na-na, Ducks win 4 to 3.
Nah nah, na-na-na-na-na-na-na, Pahlsson and Perry x3.

Go Ducks.

19 comments:

RudyKelly said...

I love that little blue duck. I wish I had an alcoholic blue duck to hang out with. I'd name him Spotswood, and when he came home all drunk I'd just shake my head and say, "Oh, Spotswood, you're incorrigible."

Wait, what were we talking about?

Niekon said...

only way Perry will score anything is is he can keep out of the sin bin... lest he upset Carlyle again and get benched for the remainder of the game.

Anonymous said...

the blue duck must have some liver trouble by now...hes been in too many of these types of cartoons

Anonymous said...

this smells like a loss

reasons:

1. last game of the road trip...dux have there minds on home...

2. dux where embarrassed at columbus last time..there confidence is low to begin with...this makes it worse

3. 2nd line is out to lunch

4. huskins still hurt..not that he makes that much of a differnce but just means Joe crazy legs and hnidy play more..(plus side maybe we see another joe D fight..he fights with passion)

5. minds on scott nieds

6. minds on maybe getting traded as wensday is approaching

7. at lastly the most telling reason why we lose today..I did not draw the cartoon with the duck kicking out of the stomach...which all have lead to wins....

bri-bot said...

katamari damacy

amazing :)

i think i'll be singing that score all day. thanks

Bryan said...

Probly with my NHL game on Xbox is Edmonton won't trade me their 1st and 2nd picks for Penner. Heck they won't even give me their 2nd pick for Penner. Apparently Lowe is not managing in the video game.

Also I'm pissed that the game has guys like Ebbet, Wirtanen and Hoffman in the minors but not Bobby Ryan.

Niekon said...

damn it Earl!!! Now I have the damn soundtrack to the Katamari games going through my head. To make things worse... they are on my computer at work... on my computer at home... on my PSP... and even in my PSP right now is "Me & My Katamari" (with Silent Hill Origins available to swap out if needed).
And now I have the damn song going through my head... on a day I don't need it going through my head.

"it's a small world after all... it's a small world after all..."


bastard ^_~

Earl Sleek said...

damn it Earl!!! Now I have the damn soundtrack to the Katamari games going through my head.

If you really want to go crazy, start listening to it in your car. You really have to fight the urge to roll up cars smaller than you.

Anonymous said...

uh, is it just me or are your predictions coming true?? not too mention Perry was about to have a hat trick but his shot hit the post -.-

Earl Sleek said...

Sorry, I was on DVR-delay. That was a pretty good prediction, huh? Thanks, Katamari!

Anonymous said...

i love being wrong..and earl i like u being right...sweet game sucked i missed the first period..sounds like there was a lot of rough shit...

sami the god made it look easy on that break away

Anonymous said...

penalty shot excuse me

Daniel said...

NHL 08 is a solid game and the most realistic sports game I have ever played. Still needs works, but its great.

Bryan said...

On the Ducks trade front, I heard in the Chicago game, Chicago dressed some young guy who they were showing off for the Ducks as part of a Schneider deal.

Earl Sleek said...

If that Chicago rumor is true, then scanning the Blackhawk roster for that game, we're probably talking about Dave Bolland (center), who got played his first game since Nov. 17th.

Either that or Colin Fraser, also a center--Anaheim was his fourth game of the year.

Anonymous said...

im dieing to know...it has to be schiender though...frees up money for perry and/or selanne...hate to lose the ultimate defense with schiender in it...but perry is more important..

im still in awe of how close u were to predicting the goal scoring and score...

quick email me some lotto numbers sleek

Earl Sleek said...

quick email me some lotto numbers sleek

Unfortunately, I doubt the lotto combination of 10-10-10-26 is going to get you a winner.

But I sure wouldn't fill out a lotto card without the number 26 somewhere in there. It's BoC tradition.

Anonymous said...

u must have soiled your panties when sami scored on that penalty shot..

Earl Sleek said...

Heh, I was pretty excited. I was watching on DVR delay, though, and one of my friends called before I'd gotten there to yell "SAMMY!", so I knew something good was coming.