Ducks Gameday—Texasperation
Dallas Stars (4-6-2, t-12th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (9-5-1, 2nd in west)
Can the Stars re-discover the success they left here last spring?
I can't really tell you what's going wrong with the Dallas Stars this season, as I have yet to even watch a single game. Still, the spreadsheets will tell you, you don't have to look much past the 50 goals allowed in just 12 games. To put that in perspective, the Philadelphia Flyers currently lead the league in goal-scoring at 3.67 goals-per-game (excludes shootouts). The Stars are giving up goals at a rate of 4.17 goals-per-game, half a goal higher than any team can manage offensively.
There's probably plenty of culprits -- Avery and Brunnstrom not adequately replacing Hagman and Miettinen, the absence of Sergei Zubov (who I think returns to the team tonight, along with Mark Parrish), and of course the guy between the pipes.
Marty Turkey. 4.34 GAA, .837 Sv%.
Still, it's still a young season, and it's certainly possible the Stars work a Ducks-style turnaround. It might not even be that bad a time for the Stars to visit Anaheim and San Jose, where they eliminated the BoC last spring. It's going to be important that the Ducks and Sharks avoid thinking too much about revenge in these first meetings, though; the way to really hurt the Stars is to send them home without a win.
The Stars are 3-1 this year when allowing 3 goals or fewer; that's a good winning percentage for that cutoff, though certainly an embarrassingly low number of instances. One other strange sidenote about tonight's game: the Stars for some reason will become the last team this season to play an opponent from their own division. I guess that's one thing a Stars fan can take solace in: there's still time to make plenty of noise in the Pacific.
* * *
I'll be at tonight's game, enjoying my own version of the "Rinkside View" from the Row B seats, look for me in my lucky green shirt. I'll be with my dad and his friends, so it will probably be a muted version of Drinky Sleek, but feel free to say hi if you see me.
Prediction: Ducks 4, Stars 2. Goals by Perry, Scotty, Pahlsson, and Travis "the Omen" Moen.
Go Ducks.
25 comments:
Avery has been a bright spot. The defense is the problem, and that extends to the forwards turning the puck over in the neutral zone. Watch how many times Marty Turco gets hung out to dry tonight.
sorry earl i want revenge..I hope the ducks lay it on thick..
hope to see a lot of what i call the "bang cycle" that getzlaf and his line employ when there on there game..
p.s.
maybe you shouldnt wear a green shirt today...you might be mistaken for a stars fan
p.s.s.
get drunk anyways...just dont eat nachos throw up and you wont embarrass your dad
The defense is the problem, and that extends to the forwards turning the puck over in the neutral zone.
Thanks for the input, Brad. How much do you blame on young guys like Fistric and Neal (who have been demoted)? How much do you think Zubov will help, once he gets his game legs?
maybe you shouldnt wear a green shirt today...you might be mistaken for a stars fan
Well, I wore the shirt for G5 of last spring's playoffs, and it seemed to work out OK. I'll try to differentiate myself from actual Stars fans by not openly weeping or carrying a gun. :)
get drunk anyways...just dont eat nachos throw up and you wont embarrass your dad
Yeah, I'll drink still -- my dad's Irish and driving, so I'm worry-free. Still, I probably won't yell as much.
Is that nacho advice based on personal experience?
I'm actually gonna do something I haven't done since the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals: I'm gonna root for the Ducks.
Don't think I'm changing my fanhood to Anaheim; I'm feeling great about my Ziggy Palffy jersey providing the Kings with a victory. Thanks for the idea, Sleek, although it's not the same as your lucky green shirt. Everybody wears jerseys to games, but there is only one lucky green shirt. I feel bad about having to rely on a jersey for the Kings to finally get a win. But the Kings are a bad team, and I'll kill my boss if it gets the Kings a win.*
No, the reason is because with the Kings' win last night, they have the same 4-6-2 record as the Dallas Stars, who have fallen from the ranks of a good team (they made the Conference Finals last year) thanks to the butt-awful season Turco is having. For the Kings to have the same record as the Dallas Stars 12 games in the season, that can't be a bad thing. And I hope the Kings' points percentage will be higher than the Stars' after this game.
The Ducks seem to win every time I cheer for their opponent, but I want Anaheim to win too much tonight to get myself to root against them. Go Ducks!!
*I don't yet have a job, but I do have an interview tomorrow at a Stater Bros. Wish me luck!
Don't think I'm changing my fanhood to Anaheim...
You'll come around. :)
And I know what you're talking about -- if I were you, I'd think of tonight's game as a can't lose. So long as somebody gets beat, you'll be happy to see it.
Good luck on the interview! Might want to wear that Palffy jersey.
not a personal experience with nachos and vomit...but mexican food yes....that stuff does not look regurgitated...
i do have a nacho story as it pertains to hockey..( i wish it was the homer nacho hat story but it isnt)
i was at the staples center watching a ducks-queens hockey game and a ducks fan had some nachos in his lap and jumped up when the ducks scored spilling nachos cheese and all...all over a lady kings fan....the ducks fan was drunk (hello earl) and tried to say sorry...but she wasnt having it...a couple unpleasantries and they both got kicked out...
getting that nacho cheese out of the ladies king jersy probally sucked balls..
GO DUCKS!!!
p.s.
ive done the same thing at a dodger game and spilled nachos but only on my own shoes...
That nacho story is horribly awesome. I guess the only way that works out is if somebody spilled nacho cheese on somebody's Chistov jersey.
Then that could be a badge-stain of pride.
That nacho story is why I am not allowed to hold anything during a game. Whatever it is will go flying and who knows if I will ever get it back. My friends know not to hand me anything while the puck is in play.
Should be an interesting game. The ducks have 64 more penalty minutes than the second most penalized team in the league (!) which averages out to 20.7 minutes shorthanded every game. Of course, this doesn't factor in coincidental minors of fighting majors, but where's the fun in that.
The Stars have the second most penalty minutes and draw more penalties than anyone (271 minutes/22.6 minutes per game).
Might be a barnburner - final score 11-7 with 10 5-on-3 goals and 3 minutes played at even strength.
Yeah, I keep a spreadsheet on the Ducks' special teams time, but it deals with actual time spent in situations (not necessarily the time deserved). If a 2 minute penalty gets negated 8 seconds later, I record the 8 seconds.
Through 15 games, the Ducks have spent 88.9 minutes on the power play, with 4 minutes coming 5-on-3 and 5.2 minutes coming 4-on-3.
They have also spent 139.7 minutes shorthanded, with 6.4 minutes coming on the 3-on-5 and 0.9 minutes coming 3-on-4.
I don't really have an overall point, other than to report those numbers. On a per-game basis, they're actually spending 9 1/2 minutes killing penalties, and just under 6 on the power play. Also worth noting: there's not a real noticeable difference in those splits between the first six games and the last nine (although they have been scoring a bunch more on the PP in the last nine, so they're probably earning more chances).
I was going to do a little preview post, but it was going to be typically stream of conscious. And nothing in my conscious stream can match "Texasperation."
Check and mate.
And nothing in my conscious stream can match "Texasperation."
Heh, thanks. I had to come up with an impressive pun to offset my fairly elementary "Marty Turkey".
i would disagree wtih julian. with modano and turco calling teammates out for goonish behavior (and not exactly the ones you first think of....*ahembrendanmorrowahem*), i would expect them to tighten up and at least attempt to play a "clean" game by their season's standards.
a trip out west for the stars does a body good. at least in recent years. as you are all keenly aware of, the stars DO play their best hockey against the quacks and guppies.
(you know i had to throw that in there)
stars 4
ducks 3
keep a spreadsheet on the Ducks' special teams time, but it deals with actual time spent in situations (not necessarily the time deserved). If a 2 minute penalty gets negated 8 seconds later, I record the 8 seconds.
Through 15 games, the Ducks have spent 88.9 minutes on the power play, with 4 minutes coming 5-on-3 and 5.2 minutes coming 4-on-3.
They have also spent 139.7 minutes shorthanded, with 6.4 minutes coming on the 3-on-5 and 0.9 minutes coming 3-on-4.
You need help Earl, you know that right? Do you crunch numbers in your sleep too?
with modano and turco calling teammates out for goonish behavior
I don't know if I'd take this as a good sign, necessarily. Probably that stuff is better said away from a microphone.
as you are all keenly aware of, the stars DO play their best hockey against the quacks and guppies.
I guess bad news for them that the schedule got a little less division-y this year.
Do you crunch numbers in your sleep too?
If by sleep you mean "day job", then yes.
If by sleep you mean "day job", then yes.
I now what you mean. Statistical Models are fun to look at, but not much fun to create.
I wish I could create my models for work half as decent as you do for fun for BOC though.
I wish I could create my models for work half as decent as you do for fun for BOC though.
Hell, I wish the BoC work was my day job, but alas, I get to work with boring financial data too.
Still, I guess it's given me plenty of spreadsheet practice (positivity!).
Steve Ott for Prime Minister of Canada please!
Is your company hiring, Earl? I need a job.
All I'm gonna say here (remembering my brief fantasy hockey conversation with Earl) is: fuck you Brendan Morrison. My fantasy hockey team's been lugging you around all year with you actually bringing me MINUS points overall, and when I FINALLY manage to get some sucker to take you off my hands in a trade, you score a goal. And I even used to like you as a player.
Oh well, if I look at this another way, I suspect that I have held back Anaheim's 5-on-5 secondary scoring all this time by cursing the guy with my selection. So, Anaheim fans, that loss is no problem, your team is only gonna get better with my crap out of your system :D
[sarcasm]POSITIVITY![/sarcasm]
I don't really know the significance of this, but tonight was the angriest I have ever seen J.S. Giguere.
Angritivity!
I only caught the third period of the game, which was after he was replaced, what happened to make him angry?
Just when he got pulled he speared his goalie stick down to the ice, and then when on the bench slammed his helmet down.
It was the goals-against, I wager. But he was furious.
Is your company hiring, Earl? I need a job.
I work for a company with nine employees, three of which are siblings with each other. I don't think we're hiring anytime soon, sorry.
Steve Ott for Prime Minister of Canada please!
Even my dad, who doesn't care that much, hates Steve Ott. Guess he's doing his job.
It was amusing watching the emergency medical staff revive Avery and keep him from going to the light, only to have him score on the very power play his acting drew a penalty for.
Why is it roughing if you get jumped? I don't even think it was boarding, I just think Avery sold it real good.
Again in the 3rd with Pronger, he gets jumped, never takes off his gloves, goes to the box.
bunch of divers.
I don't really know the significance of this, but tonight was the angriest I have ever seen J.S. Giguere.
I don't know - you remember that time he tried to remove Ryan Smyth's head with his blocker?
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