When the ketchup starts flowing...

Some people wonder why Ducks fans are so patient for Teemu Selanne to make retirement decisions.

Oct. 27, ANA @ CBJ:
16:05 3rd: Selanne 3 PP (Beauchemin, Getzlaf)

Oct. 29, DET @ ANA:
14:11 1st: Selanne 4 PP (Getzlaf, Pronger) (5-on-3)
19:09 2nd: Selanne 5 PP (Getzlaf, Niedermayer) (5-on-3)
4:50 3rd: Selanne 6 PP (Pronger, Getzlaf)

Oct. 31, VAN @ ANA:
12:24 1st: Selanne 7 PP (Pronger, Perry)
17:17 2nd: Selanne 8 PP (Perry, Niedermayer)

Six consecutive regulation periods with a power play goal scored. Talk about one guy resurrecting a stale power play percentage. Pretty damn amazing, Teemu.

* * *

The Ducks' win streak came to an end Halloween night in a game that seemed to be haunted. The Ducks opened with two PP goals (one on a Luongo miscue), but Bernier got one back for the Canucks 19 seconds later. That would end up being the first of five straight Vancouver goals -- over a span of 7:22 in the second, they scored on four consecutive shots. 18 seconds later, the Ducks responded with 3 goals in 1:40 to tie the game at 5.

In total, that was seven goals in just 9:20 of the second period. (Anaheim's goal horn called in sick today, by the way.) Anyways, after exchanging goals in the third the game goes to a shootout. After a Selanne miss, the next two shooters score, then the next twenty-two shooters miss, before Mattias Ohlund put the winner past Jonas Hiller in the spooky 13th round.

Basically, insanity. And you want to know the craziest part? The Sedin twins played over 21 minutes apiece in a game that featured 12 goals, and they weren't on the ice for any of them. As for the Anaheim twins, Corey Perry was able to answer Getzlaf's 5-assist game against Detroit with a 1-goal 4-assist game of his own.

* * *

And yes, that is an accompanying image of the Finnish "Dash" Flash to go along with Mr. Incredible.

Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—A hasty look at the SoCal Two-For-One Special

Vancouver Canucks (5-5-0, t-7th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (6-5-0, 5th in west)
Trick or treat? Teemu takes Trick.

Sorry this gameday post was so late in coming, but I was under the assumption that the NHL was going to suspend all regular season games until its posterchild Sid Crosby recovered from his mystery injury. Whoops!

At any rate, because I was so bored at work today I thought I'd revisit an old study I did about the success of teams visiting SoCal to play both the Kings and the Ducks. In the table below, I've pooled together all the instances since the lockout when a visiting team played at the Honda Center and the Staples Center within two days of each other, then separated the results according to (a) which arena they visited first, and (b) how many days separated the games. Keep in mind, this table shows visiting opponent results, not the results for the home teams:

(click image to enlarge)
There's a lot of data thrown in this table (and sorry for the shoddy image quality), but here's a few quick takeaways:

1. Given a choice, a visiting team probably prefers to visit the Ducks before they visit the Kings. In the 23 times that has happened since the lockout, teams have won 10 times in the Honda Center, 13 times in the Staples Center, and 7 times a visiting team has won in both venues.

When teams visit the Kings first (as Vancouver did last night), they generally get ripped up by the Ducks in the second game. In the 35 times that has happened since the lockout, only 9 times has a visiting team won the second game in Honda Center and only 2 times has a visiting team been able to walk away with victories in each building (though the Canucks could become the third team to do it tonight).

Interesting to note that if you count the upcoming games against Vancouver and Calgary, that will make the last eleven straight opponents who went to Staples Center first.

2. A day off between games helps a team in either situation. Neither Vancouver nor Calgary will enjoy that luxury, but as you can see, visiting teams do enjoy better results in the second game if they have a day off to prepare for it. It's intuitive, sure, but I thought I'd point it out.

What's less intuitive? Teams with a day off between venues are typically enjoying better results in the first game, also. Possibly this has to do with "looking ahead" at the next day's opponent?

3. There's still plenty of factors that aren't included in this spreadsheet. Part of what makes this study a bit complex is that loosely speaking, the last three-plus seasons the Ducks have been very good and the Kings have been very bad, and it's interesting to see how teams strategize with that in mind. Should a team play its starter against Anaheim and its back-up against L.A., to try to pick up points in each venue? Or should the starter get the easier points in L.A. and let the back-up try to pull an upset in Anaheim?

Also lost a bit in this story is the set of teams that are making these two-stop trips; generally it's teams that have to travel very far (San Jose doesn't appear in this data once, as an example). Just another thing to keep in mind when over-analyzing these results.

At any rate, I've laid out the results in what I think is a logical way; feel free to comment or question any of it, or add observations of your own.

Prediction: Per the spreadsheet, Ducks win 3.5 - 2.2. Goals by Hedican, Morrison, Pahlsson, and half a goal by Perry.

Have a safe and pagan Halloween, everyone! Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: Reunited and it Feels So Good

Los Angeles Kings (3-4-1) vs. Vancouver Canucks (4-5)

7:30 PST, Fox Sports West

Patrick O'Sullivan will skate with Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar tonight, reuniting the Sandman Line* that was so effective in the 2nd half of last season. It's all well and good for those three because they love playing with one another, but the question I have is: why? Kopitar, Brown, and O'Sullivan are all playing over 18 minutes a game and they're all averaging about a point a game on separate lines. Kopitar and Brown have been effective though somewhat smothered by opposing defenses, while O'Sullivan has been the driving force on the third line** alongside Jarret Stoll and Oscar Moller. It seems like this is a move designed to end Kopitar's perceived struggles, but at the expense of the Kings' newfound offensive depth.


*I call them the Sandman Line because they put opponents to sleep. Actually, it's because they all look really tired.

**Can we end the whole charade that Alex Frolov is on the third line? He and Handzus are playing the 3rd and 4th minutes on the team among forwards. They're playing against the other teams top lines. And they're doing awesome. They're not the 3rd line.

There were a few more shifts in the line-up worth mentioning. Well, they're not, but I'm going to anyway. Kyle Calder has joined Jarret Stoll (I keep writing "Stool" instead) and Oscar Moller on the 3rd line. It'll be interesting to see how this line does: will Stoll and Moller be able to create offense on their own, or will Calder drag them down? The answers are, in order, "no" and "yes."

Matt Moulson also rejoins the lineup tonight in place of Brad Richardson. The move is designed to provide a little defensive responsibility. Of course, the defensive problem on that line is not Richardson but instead Ivanans and Armstrong. I dont' know why the Kings don't sit Ivanans for a game because he's been sucking and not fighting lately, but who the hell knows. I think Richardon, Boyle and Moulson should all play one game, just to see how the Kings do with 4 legit lines. Oh well. No one really cares, I guess. Hey look, a duck.

***

The Vancouver Luongos come into town tonight, led by their resolute captain. A lot of people made a big deal out of Luongo being named captain, but why the fuck not? He's their best player, he's probably the best athlete on the team, and he's a pretty outgoing guy. It's not like the past where goalies were dangerous lunatics that couldn't be reasoned with. As a goaltender myself, I am tired of the blatant stereotypes perpetuated upon my race. If a black man can become president, a goalie can become captain. Now that's change I can believe in.

Prediction: Kings win, 3-2. Goals by O'Sullivan, Kopitar, and Brown. Well, they better score, anyway; it's not like anyone else is going to now.

The Vanangeles Kinucks

The Kings have a problem. As you're no doubt aware, the Kings possess a solid young offense that should land in the top 10 in goals scored next season but they have no defense or goaltending. The team has been around since 1967 yet has only reached the Stanley Cup Finals one time, in 1993. This season looks bleak unless the Kings can get some sort of defensive play.


The Vancouver Canucks also have a problem. They're possess one of the best defensive cores and arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, yet they pack very little scoring punch. Their somewhat pathetic attempt to lure Mats Sundin to their western shores seems to have proven fruitless and now they're relying on Steve Bernier to change their fortunes. The Canucks have also not won a Stanley Cup in their NHL existence (dating back to 1970) and have only 2 Stanley Cup runs to show for themselves. This season looks bleak for the Canucks unless they can get some sort of scoring punch.

So, here we have two west coast franchises, both established losers. It's obvious to all now that they can not win by themselves. It's only fair, then, for the NHL to allow them to combine forces. The team can be called the West Coast Renters (since no one in either city can afford to buy a house) and would utilize the Kings' offensive talent with the Canucks' defensive prowess to create a team that could actually compete. Imagine a team that looks like this:

Alex Frolov-Anze Kopitar-Dustin Brown
Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Patrick O'Sullivan
Matt Moulson-Ryan Kesler-Taylor Pyatt
Darcy Hordichuk-Brian Boyle-Raitis Ivanans

Mattias Ohlund-Sami Salo
Jack Johnson-Alex Edler
Willie Mitchell-Kevin Bieksa

Roberto Luongo
Jason Labarbera

Wait, goalies are allowed to do that???

That team's pretty good. The Kings supply the top offensive talent (along with a sinper to finish off the Sedin Brothers' beautiful set-ups), while the Canucks supply the grease and defense, along with one of the best goaltenders in the league. Sure, the Canucks are supplying more players than the Kings, but after a few years that should change. In the meantime, Kings' fans can enjoy having a winning team for the first since, well, ever and Canucks fans can enjoy having a top prospect pool.

These two teams have proven that they can't win on their own; maybe together they can finally win something.

Bad Puns III: The Sanford Mask Contest

Well, I may finally be out of the hockey-photoshop-contest woods. There were three nearly-simultaneous blogger-led contests out there, and as an avid supporter of web nonsense, I've now participated in all three. Here's my previous efforts towards Bettman heroism (Puck Daddy) and Gretzky negativity (The Pensblog).

And now we get to Curtis Sanford's mask, which is actually an official Canucks-sponsored contest, but has also received a side-push by Dr. Mirtle. Before we take a look at my offerings, I should note two things: (a) I'm not submitting any of these into the official contest, but if anyone feels like stealing, I won't protest. (b) As such, I've slacked a bit on production value here: I created a transparent mask template and mostly overlayed it on images. Most of these could use a touch-up.

Still, I'm not that upset with the outcomes. Let's take a tour, shall we?:

Submission #1: Playing Behind Luongo

Why not show off the reason why this helmet won't get any airtime?
Well, I'm not sure how well Sanford would enjoy wearing a Luongo-themed helmet, but at least it offers him an easy comeback: "You'd be benched, too!" I don't know if it's that clever, but hey, it's honest.

Submission #2: Learn Your Goalie History

The final version of this will feature a chalkboard so the save-differential can be updated.
Ah, yes. Ranford vs. Sanford. I picked saves as a category only because it offered a comically high number that could be updated throughout a Sanford-played game. Plus it offers a nice humble look at Sanford's paltry place in the history of goaltending.

Submission #3: Sanford's Labyrinth

Can you navigate your way to this guy's five-hole?
You know, it's kind of difficult coming up with good puns for the name "Sanford", given that I always avoid the most obvious choices (Sanford & Son, Stanford University). This pun is way half-assed, but perhaps the maze design can help confuse shooters. Also confusing? When Sanford gives you a root baby to help with your mother's childbirthing.

Submission #4: The Helmet About Nothing

A double-headed pun here: Sanfeld? Seinford?
On the other hand, I do really like this pun, but the design could have had a little more time put into it. I think this helmet should also have a little computer chip built into it, and whenever anything hits Sanford's mask, it could play the bass guitar Seinfeld theme. Whatever the design, I will say this: a bald Demitra makes for a fabulous Costanza.

For these last two designs, I have to give inspirational credit to fellow BoCer Mike Chen, who threw me a few bones on my quest for Sanford silliness:

Submission #5: Things Could Be Worse

Ah, a hockey photoshop classic.
"At least I'm not Cloutier." That really should be a positive mantra for all of us, and I think the message would resonate strongly with a memory-haunted Vancouver fanbase.

Submission #6: The Crawford Hair Helmet

This is just a prototype. The actual version would involve real hair.
And finally, another call-back to Vancouver's not-too-distant past. The Crawford Hair Helmet could allow the gelled-up hair-monster be a fixture on the Canucks bench once again. Of course, there'd probably be some debate about how much hair could be used; I'm quite sure the zero-fashion-sense competition committee would try to set some limits.

So there you have it. Six offerings with a wide range of brilliance, all that have roughly zero chance of making it to the big leagues (not unlike Sanford's chances of being a regular starter for Vancouver). Like 'em? Hate 'em? I don't care; at least I'm done with obligatory photoshops.

'Tis the season for hockey photoshop contests

Wow. Well in the wake of Puck Daddy's wildly successful Gary Bettman Photoshop Contest (230 submissions, not even counting my own), I guess art contests have become the blogger rage to help cope with the dead days of August. Of course, as a hockey-photoshop fiend myself, I wholly endorse all creative endeavors in this field, so I'm here to highlight both of the current contests before even starting on my own entries.

Contest #1: The guy with the most free time in the NHL is seeking your help to design his goalie mask.

King of bloggers James Mirtle has this one covered, but Curtis Sanford, the Canucks' backup to Roberto Luongo, is having a team-sponsored contest for fans to design his mask. To put it in Ducks terms, Sanford is the modern-day version of Danny Sabourin, the guy who occasionally gets called in when Luongo has to take an overtime shit in a playoff elimination game.

The winner of the actual Canucks contest stands to have his art featured up to six times this season, but if you're clever enough, you might even get featured on Mirtle's site, which may represent more eyeballs. Or if you have no skills but want to suggest an idea, I'm certainly not above stealing. Or whatever, if you feel like doing a Duck, King, Shark, or Star design, we'll show 'em here.

Follow the Mirtle link above to find the mask template. Deadline is August 25th.

Contest #2: It's about time the best player in the history of hockey got taken down a notch, right?

If Mirtle's the King, these guys are the Joker. The Pensblog, sick and tired of all the Great One's infallability, have put together a simple challenge: "The task is simple, make photoshops that depict Wayne Gretzky in a negative way or just make fun of him."

And why not? If there's 230 heroic aspects of Gary Bettman, there's surely a million negative facets to Wayne Gretzky. There's no template required for this one, so have fun with that one, if you're photoshop-inclined. I'll warn you, though -- the photoshoppers reading The Pensblog are a sharp and talented bunch -- if you think you won't measure up, send 'em our way and we'll show 'em here too. Deadline is August 24th.

----------------------------
So now that I've promoted these contests, check back in nearer to the deadlines and I'll put together my "brains" and my "talent" and we'll see what emerges. Perhaps I'll get rushed and draw a combination-entry hockey helmet featuring the old lesbian telling Pronger's wife to get the fuck out of Edmonton. Or perhaps I'll just do a series of Gretzky movie posters.

Yeah, I know. Suspense sucks.

Go Ducks.

Anaheim Ducks Announce 2008 Preseason Schedule

The Anaheim Ducks today announced the 2008 preseason schedule. The schedule features eight games, all keeping the Ducks close to the Pacific Ocean.

Below is the Ducks’ complete 2008 preseason schedule:

DATE	OPPONENT	VENUE	TIME (Pacific)
Wed., Sept. 24	SAN JOSE	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 26	@ San Jose	HP Pavilion	7:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 27	@ Phoenix	Jobing.com Arena	7 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 28	VANCOUVER	Honda Center	5:05 p.m.
Tues., Sept. 30	@ Los Angeles	STAPLES Center	7:30 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 1	LOS ANGELES	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 3	PHOENIX	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 5	@ Vancouver	GM Place	7 p.m.

Every single one of these games bores the living hell out of me! Why can't we play people we won't play 1,000 times this season?! Hell, toss in an interesting location like the Kings are doing in Vegas. The Ducks got London last year, and the Kings get Vegas and Kansas City! That's bullshit!

Now I Have a Reason to Dislike Vancouver

(Didn't think I could get enough material for 3 posts in 1 day about a team that hasn't been playing for 3 weeks? Well, you thought wrong!)

So Vancouver hired former agent Mike Gillis to run their professional hockey team. Why should we, as Kings fans, care? Well, for 2 reasons:

1) He was Mike Cammalleri's agent. Hmm, I wonder who it was that convinced Cammalleri that he was worth $6 milion a year and almost torpedoed the Kings.

2) We now have an inexperienced GM with probably little experience in talent evaluation in charge of a team that has a plethora of defensemen but is in need of offensive help. We also have a player that could use a change of scenery and is a former client of said inexperienced GM. See where I'm going here? You should, it's pretty obvious.

Let me be the first to congratulate Willie Mitchell/Luc Bourdon on joining the Los Angeles Kings. Good luck in Vancouver, Cammy.

Vendetta 2: Rating Revenge in the West

Franchise All-Time Playoff Records

Rk	Franchise	Playoff Record	Win Pct.
1.	Edmonton	152 – 99 – 0	.606
2.	Anaheim	44 – 29 – 0	.603
3.	Montreal	393 – 266 – 8	.595
4.	NY Islanders	134 – 106 – 0	.558
5.	New Jersey / Colorado	117 – 96 – 0	.549

You have to be impressed with the Ducks' position here, especially considering the franchise lost 11 of its first 15 playoff games. Still, in amassing such a franchise record (the bulk of which has happened since 2003), a lot of toes get stepped on along the way.

Last year around this time, I put a post together called “V for Vendetta—Who’s the hungriest for roast Duck this spring?”, where I looked at four western conference playoff participants that had particularly vengeful incentive to eliminate the Ducks. Of those four, Minnesota and Detroit both got that sweet opportunity to eliminate Anaheim but failed, making them probably even more motivated this time around.

This year I’m just going to include all the possible WC opponents in this discussion, and try to rank their appetite to topple the postseason Ducks (aside from the usual incentive in dethroning the champs), with the main focus being on playoffs past. Some have stronger cases for revenge than others, but of all the choices, who has been hurt most by the Ducks in the past? Here's my ranking:

1. Minnesota Wild
Series losses to Anaheim: 2003 round 3 (4-0), 2007 Round 1 (4-1)

Poor, poor Wild. Twice in their franchise history they have made the playoffs; twice they have been eliminated by the Ducks. In 2003, they ran into J.S. Giguere at the crescendo of his Conn Smythe glory, who held the scrappy Wild to one goal over a four-game sweep. Unheard of. It took the Wild four years to recover and qualify again, only to go up against the hated Ducks a second time. This time, Giguere sat out (family issues), and backup Ilya Bryzgalov took over. The series was tight, but Anaheim won the first three games each by a single goal, and by then things were pretty much settled. Add in a suckerpunch by Brad May, and another Giguere win, and I think the Wild probably would enjoy a Duck execution more than anybody.

From the archives: Now I'm going to hell for sure, Remembering history so I'm not doomed to repeat it

2. Detroit Red Wings
Series Losses to Anaheim: 2003 Round 1 (4-0), 2007 Round 3 (4-2)

Of all the western teams in this year's playoffs, only Detroit has had the previous pleasure of eliminating Anaheim, though those series wins (both sweeps) came in the late 90s. The tables have turned, however, since Giguere singlehandedly swept the defending champions in the opening round of 2003, a harsh blow to a proud franchise. Last spring the Wings had a different sort of heartbreak; they led G5 in a tied series 1-0 leading into the final minute of regulation, and Scott Niedermayer's fluky goal and Teemu Selanne's fluky OT breakaway proved the difference. I think the Wild edge the Wings on this ranking because they have no other postseason successes to dwell upon, but the Wings are damn close. Anaheim likely cost them two Stanley Cups.

From the Archives: Off for the weekend, Obligatory gloat post, A history lesson

3. Calgary Flames
Series Losses to Anaheim: 2006 Round 1 (4-3)

Calgary was a story of a Flames opportunity lost, but also of a Ducks team coming together in front of a crazy Russian netminder. Calgary had built a 3-2 series lead largely on the suddenly human goaltending of J.S. Giguere, and midway through G5 Carlyle threw in Bryzgalov. Between that and rookie Frenchie Beauchemin pummeling posterchild Jarome Iginla, the Ducks got what they needed to squeak a G6 win before silencing the Red Mile in a dominant G7. I had trouble ranking 3-5 on this list, but I think that stunned silence puts Calgary on top of the only-eliminated-once group.

From the Archives: Avian flu indeed, Round-by-round Bryzgalove

4. Colorado Avalanche
Series Losses to the Ducks: 2006 Round 2 (4-0)

This series was a mini-Minny sweep; the Avs were dominated by the charging Ducks from the drop of the first puck, even playing without J.S. Giguere and rookie Corey Perry. Really, the momentum built up at the end of the Calgary series carried into G1 and G2 shutout victories, and Colorado was reeling after that. Their best effort came in G3, but Joffrey Lupul had his night of nights, scoring four goals including the OT winner. This marked the first time since the Avs had moved to Colorado that they had failed to take at least two games in a series.

From the Archives: Fun facts about sweeping the Avs

5. Dallas Stars
Series Losses to the Ducks: 2003 Round 2 (4-2)

I can't believe it's been five years since the last series that featured two Pacific Division teams, but it's likely this could be revisited in the first round this spring. Dallas was the top seed in the west that spring, and seemed quite determined to not suffer the same fate as Detroit. Their issue was that they were vulnerable to late-game heroics. In all six games of the series, the Stars were tied or had the lead with 2 minutes to go in regulation, yet still managed to lose four of them. All four Anaheim winning goals came on their last shot on net.

From the Archives: A look back at the '03 playoffs

6. Vancouver Canucks
Series Losses to the Ducks: 2007 Round 2 (4-1)

Vancouver might not have the heartbreaking story of contenders 1-5, but it's compelling nonetheless. The Canucks were riding their young goaltender in his first playoff year similar to how the Ducks had done in 2003, and found themselves down 2-1 in the series. They managed to score the first two goals in G4 in Vancouver, seemingly ready to even the series, but then managed to lose that lead. It was a crushing ending for the Canucks, as the series-winning OT goal occurred when Roberto Luongo got more interested in refereeing than netminding, and I'm sure Vancouver would like another chance to eliminate the Ducks and their Stompy Captain.

From the Archives: Welcome to SoCal, Roberto, Marine biologists discover a new disease

7. San Jose Sharks
No playoff history with Anaheim

It's amazing; Sharks fans might think they're gunning for us, but they're one of the few teams that can only base their hatred on regular season matchups. Well, I guess there's two things playoff-related that they can hate the Ducks for: (1) Pronger eliminated the Sharks in the 2nd round of '06, and (2) Two years in a row, SJ blew a 2nd round series lead and failed to get a matchup against Anaheim. This second one may be a source for Shark-anger; while other teams failed against the Ducks, San Jose blew it before even getting to that matchup.

8. Nashville Predators
No playoff history with Anaheim

I don't know why Nashville would hate the Ducks, unless they naturally associate the Ducks with their postseason nemesis, the Sharks, because of geography. If anything, Preds fans might enjoy the fact that the Ducks twice eliminated the Red Wings, but I'm just guessing.

Honorable mentions:
These teams won't be making an appearance in the western playoffs, but you bet they'd like to kill the Ducks as well.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers are the only team in the west to have a perfect series record against Anaheim, and yet their hatred is palpable, mostly having to do with off-ice confrontations (the Pronger trade and the Penner signing, and all the Burke-Lowe name-calling that ensued). The Oilers won't qualify this year, but they'll be solidly rooting for a Duck elimination this spring, and not just to protect their postseason winning percentage; they've also got a draft pick that depends on how Anaheim finishes.

Ottawa Senators: This seems pretty obvious to me. The Senators were thoroughly steamrolled in front of a multinational audience in last spring's cup finals, and would desperately like a do-over. It was a tough fall from glory for a team that had easily waltzed through the eastern playoffs, and even attending this year's regular season matchup, you could see the pent-up frustration.

Los Angeles Kings: When Anaheim lifted the cup, a part of every Kings fan's soul died. It has to be tough: 40 years of cup frustration, only to see the new BoC sibling make it look so darn easy, while the Kings sit around the NHL cellar. The Ducks and Kings have never qualified for the postseason in the same year, so it's tough to know where L.A. ranks on this list, but I think it's fair to say that they'd love a shot at eliminating Anaheim, probably more than teams that have faced the Ducks and lost. Irrelevance has its emotional cost as well.

So there you have it. It's a long list of teams with a lot of good recent-history reasons to want revenge on Anaheim, and my attempt to rank their previous playoff nightmares. What do you think? Is it worse to blow a series lead or to get swept? Who's had it the worst?

More likely than not, some team from the west is going to get the satisfaction of dethroning the Ducks; which opponent wants it the most? Let's hear your rankings in the comments.

Western Conference Regulation Record Grid

I've been meaning to put together a stats table to show all the potential western conference playoff participants, similar to the tables I built last year, and here it is. This table shows regulation records (the record at the end of 60 minutes) for the top ten teams in the west playing against the top ten teams in the west, all carrying some level of playoff aspiration. I've turned that regulation record into a winning percentage, and included GF and GA stats as well (note: GF and GA do include OT goals, mostly because I'm lazy). Basically, you can pick a team along the left column and follow it across to see how that team has fared against each of the nine potential future opponents, to see where a particular match-up seems favorable or not.

(Click on image to enlarge)
Some takeaway notes, briefly:

• From the Ducks' perspective, I'm not a huge believer on what this table tells us. A lot of the games used in creating this table were played without Niedermayer and Selanne at first, then Pronger and Perry later. It's tough to draw any hard conclusions on how a more complete team would have fared over the course of a season. Still, it's worth noting that the Ducks have the worst offense of any of these teams (against this opposition), and that even though the Ducks don't rate that well against their likely first round opponent in the Dallas Stars, it's still better than their regular season performance against Minnesota or Vancouver.



• As for winners from this table, it's hard not to like Detroit, San Jose, and Dallas, the three teams that show winning regulation records against the best of the west. Of the three, Detroit dominates the other two, though, and has strong records against nearly all other contenders (except Anaheim and perhaps Nashville). Perhaps Detroit's two main hopes should be that some other team eliminates the Ducks and somehow the Predators avoid finishing eighth, but generally, they've played this field very well.



• Among the teams still fighting for a spot, Calgary probably really wants the sixth seed the most, and Colorado wants to avoid falling to eighth the most. Vancouver appears to be in some trouble; even if they do qualify for the postseason they project to go up against a first round opponent that's dominated them during the regular season.

Anyway, I know that today's supposed to be all pranks and merriment, but I thought I'd throw out a statistical glance at the coming postseason. Read into it what you will (and I'll take any responses in the comments), but I think it offers a quick glance at what opponents each team finds more or less desirable for the prolonged fight to the cup finals. Once the standings gets a little more locked in, I'll delve a bit more into the emotional side; I'm quite new at this "defending" gig, and in that sense, it's a playoff year like I've never experienced before.

Until then, Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—Scattered advice from a tired blogger

Vancouver Canucks (35-24-10, 8th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (39-25-8, 4th in west)

Here's how the season series with Vancouver has gone thus far this season:

G1: Ducks allow the first four goals, lose 4-0.
G2: Ducks allow the first three goals, lose 3-2.
G3: Ducks allow the first two goals, lose 2-1.

So how about this time, the Ducks try scoring first (or at least, second)? I've got this wacky theory about the Canucks in that they're damn difficult to come back against when it comes to multi-goal deficits. An early lead might prove fruitful. It's sort of an untested theory at this point, but I'd sure like to see the Ducks give it a try tonight.

I suppose the Sharks and Stars are the target now, with first round home ice being the reward for catching one of them. I've always thought that home ice advantage was a bit overblown, however, and based on the Ducks' shootout lineup last night, the Anaheim coaching staff thinks so also. Here's the shootout lineup that they threw out there last night, which lost laughingly to Bryzgalov and his Coyote friends.

Todd Bertuzzi I actually did see Bertuzzi score on a breakaway against Nabokov this year, but it was in the same game where he had earlier failed on a penalty shot, so essentially it took him two breakaways to score. Bert's still got some hands, but let's not kid ourselves here. He doesn't willfully take shots during the game, what makes him any sort of candidate for the shootout? Bad call, Carlyle.

Todd Marchant This is wrong on so many levels (on every platform except NHL 07). Todd Marchant gets about 40 breakaways a year and scores on zero of them. He is the king of not scoring on glorious scoring chances (where do you think he got the nickname Stone Hands?), but rather will score goals like we've seen in the last two games: fluky bounce-pucks that leave a brown taste in goaltenders' mouths. Horrible call, Carlyle, especially when Stone Hands dropped the puck halfway to the net. Next time I see Marchant in a shootout, he'd better be the fifteenth shooter.

Chris Pronger Yeah, I think a lot of people saw Pronger in '06 become the first person to score a penalty shot goal in the cup finals, but few are clinging to that memory the way Carlyle is. C'mon, coach. He's wearing a frickin' jaw basket and you think it might be time to hearken back to beating Cam the sham Ward? Rotten call, Carlyle.

Look. The Ducks lose shootouts all the time, and I'm always very cool about it. I know that Anaheim has designed its roster around owning the boards, and thus they regularly seem out of their element in shootouts. And that's cool with me--boardwork wins in the postseason, whereas Dallas, one team that can be associated with shootout success, has yet to win a playoff round since the shootout was invented. Still, last night for the first time I really found myself livid, not necessarily at the shootout result, but rather in the manner and lineup that the Ducks decided to lose it. Since Carlyle took over the team, last night stands as the one time I can think of where the Ducks almost intentionally left standings points on the table. An odd time of the year for those sort of shenanigans, that's for sure.

I'll let it slide, but dear god Carlyle, if that's the shootout strategy, why not just let the opposing coach pick our shooters? Odds are, we'd probably have seen Marchant get stripped of the puck by an imaginary defender in either case.

Maybe more pressing is what I saw in regulation, which certainly was a mixed bag. Here's my advice: Bertuzzi or Weight needs to start firing some pucks on net, or these two have to be separated immediately. They are forming a huge hole on the 2nd line, and that's a huge chunk of salary to be paying guys to do nothing except feed Todd Marchant or Bobby Ryan (who can be double-covered since he's the only one who shoots). Try these top two lines: Bertuzzi-Getzlaf-Selanne and Kunitz-Weight-Ryan. Yeah, it sucks separating Kunitz from Selanne, but Weight and Bertuzzi both need to be played carefully, and frankly I just don't see them being anywhere near productive with each other. Maybe five years ago that duo would have worked, but that was back in an era when these guys willingly shot the puck. Now it's like pulling teeth, and I find both guys frustratingly easy to defend because of it.

Prediction: My dad and brother are at the game tonight, and I am not. Neither of them are particularly hockey fans, so I bet they see a yawner and I get to hear about how boring hockey is for the next six months. Ducks 2, Canucks 1. Goals by Pahlsson and Huskins. The game ends in regulation, causing Carlyle to shelf his alternate shootout lineup of O'Donnell, Sutherby, and May. Feel free to offer your own "worst shootout lineup" suggestion for the Ducks in the comments.

Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: What's Up With Vancouver?

LA Kings (gah!) vs. Vancouver Canucks (34-24-10, 8th in West)

7:30 EST, FSN Prime Ticket

Can someone help me out? Usually when we play a Canadian team I like to make fun of the area (because I'm a winner), but I don't really know what's up with Vancouver. I've heard that they're more cosmopolitan than the rest of Canada (they don't wear denim on holidays?), but I've also heard that about Montreal. What's their deal?

Even their team is kind of boring. They don't score very much, the Sedin twins look like the most boring people in the world, Luongo is great but he's mostly just huge, Matt Cooke got traded, etc. Hell, I can't even be angry that they're better than us since they haven't beaten us this season! I can't make fun of them, and I hate that. The only thing that really made me laugh was during the trade dealine when I heard a few of their fans saying they didn't need defense because they had Aaron Miller and Mike Weaver. (Trust me, you guys need defense.)

Anyway, if you've been to Vancouver or if you just don't like them because you're bitter, let me know in the comments. 'Til then, I'll just have to keep noting that Roberto Luongo looks like a Bond villain, but even that's not that much fun.

***

The Kings had their big Breakfast with the GM extravaganza yesterday and Dean Lombardi talked a lot about the future of the team. Big points: he didn't sound too excited about Stamkos, he wasn't thrilled with last year's free-agent signings, and he wants a young defenseman this off-season. If you feel like it, go over to letsgokings.com's message boards to read a transcript.

Prediction: Kings win, 4-2. Goals by Cammy, Brown (x2), and Armstrong. Vancouver does... something. Damn.

Update: Pop quiz, hot shot: what sport is this passage talking about?

"Alberta's Kevin Martin took advantage of a Saskatchewan miss to steal a crucial early point in a 7-4 win that handed Pat Simmons' rink its first loss at the Tim Hortons Brier on Monday."

Hint: This Adonis is Kevin Martin:

Extra Hint: It was on the front page of TSN.ca. Give up? It's curling! On the front page! I love Canada.

Kings Gameday: Uncle Kracker?

Los Angeles Kings (hepsch) @ Vancouver Canucks (25-17-5, t-6th in West)

7:00 PST, 1150 AM

At the beginning of the season I had a great idea to read through player bios and then decide if I like them more or less based on that information. It was a fun, quirky way to get to know the players a little better. Of course, I do that once and then the website I was getting the information from (lakingsjunkie.com) never updated again so I couldn’t continue the series. But you know what? Fuck it, I’m still doing it, I’ll just use the old bios from LaKings.com instead. I already judged Frolov and Cammalleri (which you can find here), so today I will be judging Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Scott Thornton.

Anze Kopitar

What I like: His favorite movie is Happy Gilmore, he likes Jessica Alba (who doesn’t?), and an interesting fact you might not know about him is that he loves pancakes… wait, HE DOES??? Holy shit. My mind is blown right now. That is the most interesting fact in the entire world.

What I don’t like: His favorite recording artist is Uncle Kracker. Who the hell likes Uncle Kracker? I don’t even think Uncle Kracker’s mom’s favorite recording artist is Uncle Kracker. There’s a couple other things that bother me about him, but this one is really all I need.

Overall: I like him less. Honestly, Uncle Kracker? Get the fuck out of here.

Are they scissoring?

Dustin Brown

What I like: His favorite movie is Fight Club, his favorite action hero is Batman, he likes Las Vegas, and he supports Leukemia. No, wait… he supports fighting leukemia. Sorry, I read that wrong.

What I don’t like: He likes World of Warcraft (nerd), he listens to Tim McGraw (what is this, baseball?), and his favorite TV show is King of Queens. The last one will be removed if he only likes it because of Leah Remini.

Overall: I like him more. I can’t dislike a guy who enjoys Fight Club. Plus, maybe he’ll read this and invite me to Vegas.

God, Mike Ricci is freakishly ugly.

Scott Thornton

What I like: Pretty much everything, but some of the highlights are that his favorite band is Social Distortion (see, that’s a hockey band), he hates slow drivers and yappy dogs, he likes The Godfather, his favorite actor is Ed Norton… basically, Scott Thornton is the coolest dude ever.

What I don’t like: Umm, I guess his nickname: Thorty. Honestly, hockey players are the laziest people in the world when it comes to nicknames. Why not, like, “The Godfather” or “Healthy Scratch” or something like that?

Overall: I like him more. I wish Scott Thornton was actually good at hockey because he sounds like a guy I’d want to have a beer with. He’s like Craig Conroy without the talent.

Prediction: Kings win, 3-1. Goals by Brown, Lubo, and “The Godfather.”

Ducks Gameday—Cartoons are my anti-depressant

Anaheim Ducks (19-16-5, t-7th in west) at Vancouver Canucks (21-13-4, 5th in west)

Well, a piss-poor, gift-wrapped finish against the Flames (and their pals, the officials) probably deserves a solid rebound game. Unless, of course, the Ducks are dead-set on not making any penalty-related resolutions until the new year.

Here's hoping for a tasty outcome.

No Pahlsson = no prediction. Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—Ironman Streaks on both sides of the puck

Vancouver Canucks (16-11-3, 4th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (15-13-4, t-5th in west)

Sorry if I got your hopes up, but word is there will be only one Niedermayer playing tonight, and his name is Rob. Also, nobody's been moved yet to create tag space for Scott (Varius has done the math here), so there's still a trade a-coming, and I'll add an update if anything happens today.

At any rate, the bigger stories are probably on the other end of the ice, as both Roberto Luongo and Brendan Morrison are unavailable tonight. Luongo shut out the Ducks in Vancouver two weeks ago, and a rib injury will keep him day-to-day. As for Morrison, he snaps what was the reigning NHL ironman streak at 542 consecutive games.

Somewhat ironically, tonight diminutive center Andy McDonald will take sole possession of the Anaheim franchise ironman streak. Currently he is tied with the 275-consecutive-game streak that Sammy Pahlsson had set before missing the first five games this year (hernia surgery).

I don't really want to knock BevMo or Andy Mac, but really, if these are the guys who are going to be setting the consecutive game records these days, we should probably stop calling it an "ironman" streak. More realistically, it's a "won't go into the corners" man streak. Still, congrats to both of them for their achievements; it is nice to know that little guys can survive and thrive in a big-bodied sport.

As for the game, you might think that I'd be excited that Luongo's unavailable, and I guess I am. Still, the Ducks have seemingly always had trouble with 2nd-string goalies, whereas they've had pretty good success against Bobby Lou of late; I don't this game's going to be easy, even with the dropoff in netminding. Still, we might get to see a rarity: the Ducks might get to score first, something they haven't done in ten straight games.

Prediction: Let's say Ducks 3, Canucks 2. Goals by Getzlaf, Pahlsson, and a (farewell?) goal by Schneidermayer.

p.s. I have been remiss on my congratulations to James Mirtle, Tom Benjamin, Tyler Dellow, and others for their mentions in the HNIC feature on hockey bloggers a few weeks ago (follow that last link to see the video). It was awesome to see Ron MacLean paging through the blog-link sidebar at Canucks Corner, talking up some of the blogs he reads, and skipping right past BoC. Way to keep it on the level, Ron; we're not legitimizing anybody in the blog business.

p.p.s. I have been also advised that a BoC reader has two lower bowl (Row R) tickets available for this game, and is looking to get face value on the tickets. He's got a Paypal set up and e-mailable tickets, so if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you hooked up. Probably a limited time offer. (The tickets have been bought).

Oh yeah, and Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: The Golden Age of Enforcers?

(Busy day here at BoC, so make sure you check out Earl's gameday post below. It's got analysis, or some shit like that. Whatever, analysts say you can't drink at 9 in the morning, so what do they know?)

Los Angeles Kings (11-16-2) vs. Vancouver Canucks (16-10-3)

7:30 PST, FSN West

Yeah, yeah, the Kings can’t beat Phoenix, whatever. I haven’t been worrying about it too much; instead, I’ve been considering that we might be living in the Golden Age of enforcers in the Pacific division. Every team has someone awesome who can fight, and each guy has a little something about him that makes him significantly cooler than the average hockey player. Look:

I think Parros is making that kid uncomfortable. Look how he's leaning away.

George Parros, Anaheim Ducks. The legacy of this guy is overblown, but there’s a reason people liked him in the first place. Moustache. Princeton degree. Long, wild hair. Comically bad balance. Likes Night Ranger, which is kind of like an even gayer version of Nelson. It’s kinda bandwagon now, but George Parros is still a pretty awesome guy.

Don't bite his face, Raitis! Bad Raitis!

Raitis Ivanans, Los Angeles Kings. Raitis Ivanans took a Rob Blake slap shot to the face and did not get knocked out. He didn’t even fall down. He’s like Colossus if Colossus couldn’t turn into metal. I’d be afraid to talk to him, lest I somehow offend him and wake up trying to pick my teeth out of my crap. He can’t fight right now, but don’t worry, he’s making notes. He’ll be back.

"Did you hit his knees? You mother fucker!"

Douglas Fucking Murray, San Jose Sharks. I’ve been a fan of Dog Murray before he realized he needed to fight for his food, but he’s taken his awesomeness to a whole new level. Douglas Fucking Murray (as Meg pointed out, that sounds like two guys are having sex) owns a company, is Swedish, has a cool nickname (“Crankshaft”), and is unique because he doesn’t go around looking for fights. Dog Murray generally fights when one of his teammates has been wronged, usually when someone goes after their knees (Dog Murray HATES it when people go after knees). He’s a noble guy, and I dig that.

I'm half-expecting him to pull out a gun any second.

Danny Carcillo, Phoenix Coyotes. I don’t know much about this guy, other than he’s smaller than anyone else on this list and that he’s a fucking lunatic. Seriously, I’ve watched Sean Avery, and this guy makes Sean Avery look like Jari Kurri. He belongs on the plane in Con Air, not on the ice. He may never fight any of the other big boys on this list, but I imagine he would in a heartbeat. Get this man some therapy.

The Rifle, unloading on a Red Wing.

Brad Winchester, Dallas Stars. I almost didn’t put this guy on the list since he’s not really as cool as the other guys, but I needed him to finish the list. Plus, his name is Brad Winchester. I can’t hear his name without blurting out, “Awesome!” Winchester. That’s his last name. Even better, his nickname is “The Rifle.” I would give either nut for the opportunity to be nicknamed “The Rifle.” He could be a florist and I bet he’d be the baddest assed florist in the world. Work with blood orchids, or something.

So yeah, we're doin' pretty well in terms of enforcers. Who would you guys want on your team?

Prediction: Kings win, 4-3. Goals by... I don't know, these things don't matter anyway. Sammy Pahlsson, with all 7 goals.

Ducks Gameday—Bertuzzi: more notorious than productive

Anaheim Ducks (11-9-4, t-3rd in west) at Vancouver Canucks (12-9-2, t-3rd in west)

I am sick as a dog today, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Tonight will be Todd Bertuzzi's first game against Vancouver since he was traded away for Luongo, plus it will be Anaheim's first game against the Canucks since eliminating them in five games last spring. Of course there's plenty of reaction from the Vancouver side of things: Canucks and Beyond, Canucks Hockey Blog, the Yankee Canuck, Orland Kurtenblog, and Waiting for Stanley all have some pregame that's much less congested.

While I understand why Todd Bertuzzi gets the spotlight today, it should be noted that Duck fans are still waiting to get some acceptable production out of the $4 M monster; despite playing the easiest 5-on-5 minutes on the Ducks, Bertuzzi has the team's worst 5-on-5 goals-against rate. Here's a comparison to the guy with the toughest 5-on-5 minutes in the league (source: Behind the Net, min. games = 5, min. TOI = 5).

Todd Bertuzzi, 10 games played
EVEN STRENGTH:
Strength of Opposition: -0.18 (589 / 628)
Strength of Teammates: -0.31 (565 / 628)
Plus per hour: +2.44, Minus per hour: -3.05, Diff per hour: -0.61

Sammy Pahlsson, 19 games played
EVEN STRENGTH:
Strength of Opposition: +0.33 (1 / 628)
Strength of Teammates: -0.23 (510 / 628)
Plus per hour: +1.69, Minus per hour: -1.44, Diff per hour: +0.24

We'll see how well Bertuzzi is able to pull a season together, but at this point, he's got a lot of improving to do. Carlyle has sheltered his minutes as best as he can, now Bert has got to find a way to start outscoring some of the worst opposition in the league.

See also: my poem about Bertuzzi's concussion and my Bertuzzi-inspired comic book series.

Prediction: Lost a little bit in this preview is the fact that Roberto Luongo has only managed to beat J.S. Giguere once in eight tries last year, and that victory took two overtime periods to achieve. He's still the only goaltender to beat Giguere in a playoff OT game, but other than that has had a real difficult time being the better goaltender when going head-to-head. Giguere keeps the Luongdomination going tonight: Ducks 4, Canucks 2. Goals by Kunitz, Sutherby, Pahlsson, and Schneider; Bertuzzi finishes a -2.

Go Ducks.

Ducks in Review: Anaheim’s road to the Stanley Cup Finals

Regulation Standings since Christmas:

Rank	Team	GP	W-L-T	Win Pct.	GF – GA = GD
1	Ottawa	45	28-7-10	.733	165 – 101 = +64
2	Detroit	47	25-10-12	.660	151 – 114 = +37
3	Vancouver	46	21-8-17	.641	131 – 100 = +31
4	Minnesota	47	24-11-12	.638	131 – 90 = +41

These standings represent a team's record (regular season only) at the end of regulation--any results in overtime or a shootout are treated as ties, both in the win column as well as the goal tallies. Admittedly, this table is sort of designed retrospectively, but it is revealing nevertheless. Anaheim has had a difficult set of opponents thus far, and according to these standings will have faced the top four teams in the league before these playoffs are over.

I've argued before that the Ducks should be high on this chart as well (a 2-9-2 injury stretch really throws a wrench in their numbers), so I won't belabor that again, but let's take a look back how the Ducks have been able to overcome some of the better teams going into these playoffs.

Round One: Minnesota Wild

The Wild on paper were a scary team; they led the league in goals-against and had a whopping 33-8-6 record with Marion Gaborik in the lineup. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom helped anchor the 2nd best penalty kill and had not surrendered more than 2 goals in a game in over a month.

Indeed, the postseason Wild were stingy, only allowing the Ducks 8 hard-fought goals through the first 4 games. I still maintain that Backstrom was the toughest goaltender for the Ducks to beat in these playoffs, but they managed enough goals to win the first three games, and from there it became largely academic.

The real stories for the Ducks were on the defensive end of the ice. Despite power play time being 51 minutes for Minnesota to 33 minutes for Anaheim (a theme we’ll see later), the Ducks outscored Minnesota’s power play 5 - 2, with a shorthanded goal each. Probably the most impressive part of this was the fact that crazy Russian Ilya Bryzgalov was the surprise starter for G1, and was able to hold the fort through the next three starts as well.

In the end, the Wild proved too reliant on their top line for scoring, and couldn't take advantage of their special teams. The Ducks, meanwhile, were able to put enough pucks and bodies towards Backstrom to force enough goals to win. Perhaps understated were injuries to key defensemen: the Ducks lost G4 without the services of Francois Beauchemin and the Wild lost G5 without the services of Kim Johnsson (I hate you, Brad May).

The cartoon above is easily the most mean-spirited (and thus most popular) thing I think I’ve published on this blog; click here to see why it’s somewhat justified.

Round Two: Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks were a team built around their goaltender, Roberto Luongo, as well as the offense produced by the Henrik and Daniel Sedin. They generally kept everything low-scoring enough to allow their goaltender to be the difference in games, led the league in penalty-killing, and rarely lost games in regulation.

Vancouver came into round two a beat-up squad, as they had just come off a G7 win over Dallas and were playing without defensemen Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa, to start. And of course that showed in G1, as the Ducks cruised to a 5-1 win, and I lost my lucky hat.

After that, though, Vancouver got its wits about it and played the type of game that earned them success in the regular season—Luongo became a Hart-worthy goalie again, and the team protected neutral ice a lot better. The final four games all were one-goal decisions (3 decided in overtime), and the Ducks only managed to outscore the Canucks 9 - 7 after G1.

Again, the Ducks’ defense came up huge, as the Canucks managed only one power play goal in more than 50 minutes of power play time. J.S. Giguere lost an overtime game for the first time in his playoff career, but he has bounced back and won his last four OT games since.

Round Three: Detroit Red Wings

I really haven’t had much time to properly recap this series, as immediately the cry after G6 was “On to Ottawa!”, but Detroit provided the Ducks with their most formidable foe to date. Detroit’s regular-season specialty was limiting shots-against on Dominik Hasek and winning games on home ice, and they ended the season 2nd in goals-against.

For sure, a huge factor in this series were blueline injuries to Niklas Kronvall late in the season and Mathieu Schneider late in round two, but even so the Ducks managed without Chris Pronger suspended for G4 and Chris Kunitz hurt in G1 as well. The teams played largely even, despite the fact that Detroit’s power play scored 9 goals in 68 minutes, and Anaheim’s only got 4 goals in 48 minutes.

I don’t want to trivialize Detroit’s effort, because it was huge, but as the series went on things started to go Anaheim’s way, in particular to Teemu Selanne and the power play, both of which went scoreless in the first three games. The wins weren’t overwhelming, but the fact that the Ducks were able to pull two overtime wins and not get blown out in Detroit was huge. And while Pronger certainly blew his top in the G3 stinker, you gotta give the big guy credit—Detroit could not score against him.

This series more than the others hinged on a single moment, though: the fluky G5 game tying-goal with 48 seconds left in regulation. It really was a series that could have gone either way, but the Ducks found the will and the bounces to win.
------------------------------
Certainly, you cannot talk about any of these series wins without using the term “fortunate”—they all proved to be tough-to-score-on, tough-to-beat teams. And now perhaps we are looking at the best one of them all. But if we're talking adversity, that's not new. If we're talking streaks and stats favoring the other squad, that's not new. If we're talking Maggie the Monkey picking against the Ducks, that's not new either (she has yet to pick a CA team in any series this playoffs).

Time to throw the stats out the window, roll up those sleeves, and beat another contender. Welcome to Anaheim, Ottawa. Leave your streak at the door.

Go Ducks.