Will the Kings Trade for Marian Gaborik?

No, probably not. But still, it's fun to think about. Gaborik, of course, is the talented but oft-injured winger for the Minnesota Wild who apparently hates Minnesota so much that he'd rather die than play there. (Can't say I blame him.) The hot rumor is that Minnesota GM Doug Riesebrough is actively shopping Gaborik and he has called both Los Angeles and Montreal. This isn't really a surprise because the Kings have a lot of great prospects, but there's just no way Lombardi is going to give up anyone of importance for a guy that'll be a free agent. The Kings aren't going to trade for Gaborik when they know they can just sit on their hands in this Lost Season and potentially sign him this off-season, especially when trading for him means giving up something like Alexander Frolov and Thomas Hickey.* Another problem with Gaborik is that you never really know what you're getting: are you getting one of the best players in the game, or are you getting a guy that'll only play 40 games a year? Are you getting both? Luckily for the Kings, they already know what they're getting because they've had him before; only last time, he went by the name Ziggy Palffy.

*Can you imagine Frolov in Lemaire's system though? Mmmm... tasty.



The Kings traded for Ziggy Palffy after the 1999 season for Olli Jokinen (1st round pick), Josh Green (2nd round pick), Mathieu Biron (1st round pick), and a 1st round pick (1st round pick). Like Gaborik, Palffy had a unique blend of speed shooting ability and, like Gaborik, Palffy had a sensitive groin. Palffy spent 5 seasons with the Kings, averaging over a point a game and about 60 games a season. The Kings made the playoffs 3 times in that span, advancing past the 1st round once. The trade for Palffy was ultimately worth it because two of the three prospects they traded were worthless, but the key difference between then and now is the salary cap. Trading for Gaborik and then signing him to a ludicrous deal (which someone will give him VANCOUVER) would fuck everything Dean Lombardi has been building the past 2 1/2 years. The Kings would be cutting a big swath out of their cap space and depleting the cheap talent pool they have to compensate for Gaborik's deal. Dave Taylor made this move; Dean Lombardi won't.


That's not to say that the Kings won't go after Gaborik (or Jay Bouwmeester) this off-season, however. The Kings should have a clear number of their cap picture after they sign Jack Johnson to a 2-year deal or whatever and if they have a chance to upgrade either Alex Frolov or Johnson then they should definitely do it. They can then trade one of those guys for depth. Gaborik is an outstanding player when he's healthy and Lombardi isn't one to let a little injury history deter him from signing a player. This off-season should be pretty interesting for both the Kings and the Ducks.

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.

Revenge is best served in Minnesota

Minnesota > Earl.

Ducks Gameday—A History Lesson

Anaheim Ducks (27-20-6, 4th in west) at Minnesota Wild (28-19-3, 5th in west)

First off, tip of the hat to Steve Lepore from KK for offering this info: tonight's Versus telecast will be called by John Ahlers, John Vanbiesbrouck, and Jack Edwards. I remember when I first heard about Ahlers, the Ducks' regular play-by-play guy, getting a Versus gig. Somebody had started a thread at a Ducks messageboards in all caps: "AHLERS ON VERSUS!!!"

When I first saw the thread title, I thought, "Hey, that's really cool. I never pay attention to the AHL because it's never televised down here. Finally, some AHLers on Versus!" Boy was I suckered.

Oops. The Hockey News will have to do a new cover with Selanne now.
At any rate, Ducks play Minnesota tonight for the last time this season, and in some ways, the Wild may be getting lucky. They managed to play the Ducks the last game before Scott Niedermayer made his debut, and the way things are looking they might be playing the last game before Teemu Selanne reassumes his #8. Of course, Wild fans hate the Ducks, and tough to blame them. Twice they've made the playoffs, and twice the Ducks have soundly beaten them.

This may sound hollow (and maybe on some level it is), but I do sympathize. You see, the first two times the Ducks made the playoffs, they met their demise at the hands of their archnemesis, the Red Wings. Detroit swept Anaheim in the second round of the 1997 playoffs and again in the first round of the 1999 playoffs. Two playoff appearances, two brutal deaths at the hands of the Red Wings.

So I guess the message I've got for Wild fans is that there is hope (and for Ducks fans, there is worry). Sure, now that the Ducks have added Selanne a lot of experts have been calling them favorites, and on paper, there's a lot to support that. Still, history offers a lesson that to my eye is way too parallel to ignore: 2003 playoffs, first round, Red Wings vs. Mighty Ducks. Detroit came in as the defending Stanley Cup champs with a history of beating the shit out of the Ducks (sound familiar?), and dressed a roster loaded with superstars (good enough to lead the league in scoring).

So what happened in this parallel tale? Another sweep, except of course this time things were different; this time the Ducks came out winners. Even though Detroit was the better team nearly every minute of that series, Giguere and the Ducks willed their way to a tight victory. And another. And two more. Four one-goal wins against a team that hadn't lost even three straight all season. Three years later, the Ducks eliminated Detroit again, evening the franchise score.

Of course, both Wing eliminations were made all the sweeter by the previous history, but here's the question: Could the Mighty Ducks of '03 have beaten that Red Wings squad if it didn't have that history of losing? Was there extra incentive for Anaheim, enough to will those wins? Was it a case of karmic due?

It's never that simple, of course (Giguere is a huge wrinkle in the bitterness theory), but the fact remains: I am very, very afraid of that eventual next series against Minnesota, whenever it occurs. Sure the Wild have been humiliated in the past and I've certainly enjoyed our end of that, but having seen both sides of the equation, I don't know if any team is as emotionally ready to overthrow the Ducks in a best-of-seven as the Wild are. And I don't think any team, even twice-beaten Detroit, is as due.

Prediction: This could be the Ducks' last game with an all-North-American lineup. I don't expect Selanne to play, and I guess Pahlsson's not up to snuff either. The Wild will be ready to battle, so let's hope the Ducks are, too. Ducks 3, Wild 1. Goals by Getzlaf, Marchant, and Beauchemin.

Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—An x-ray of Pronger's knee

Anaheim Ducks (26-17-6, 2nd in west!) at Minnesota Wild (26-17-3, t-5th in west)

Last year when Chris Pronger broke his foot, I produced an exclusive x-ray photo of the injury. Cut to last night's game in the first period at Nashville, when a Shea Weber point shot hit the outside of Pronger's knee; he left the game, apparently suffering a contusion and is day-to-day.

So, without further ado, to the right is the x-ray I received of the current injury. You can see the extent of the injury by the excessive number of lightning bolts.

On that note, it's probably appropriate that the Ducks go to Minnesota tonight, a regular source for injuries as I noted in last spring's series preview. Between the regular season and playoffs, Ducks-Wild games in the last season-and-a-half have produced the following injuries:

• Marian Gaborik (groin, 35 games)
• Todd Fedoruk (broken face, never the same again)
• Chris Pronger (broken foot, 10 games)
• Francois Beauchemin (jaw fracture, 1 game)
• Kim Johnsson (suckerpunch to the face, 1 game)
• Todd Bertuzzi (concussion, 14 games)

We'll see what happens tonight. One thing to watch out for -- this will be Brad May's first game in Minnesota since the Johnsson suckerpunch. May already fought Boogaard in Anaheim, but I have a feeling he might have to answer the bell again in front of the Wild fans.

Prediction: The Wild have already beaten the Ducks twice in Anaheim this year, the last win coming on the game before Niedermayer's return. If there's any solace, it's that the Wild scored the first seven goals in the season series, but the Ducks have scored the last two (to be fair, that game was well out-of-hand, so this isn't that encouraging). Still, the Ducks are rolling, and I'm believing. Ducks 4, Wild 3. Goals by Kunitz, Weight, Pahlsson, and Beauchemin.

Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: So-Cal Pity Party

Los Angeles Kings (12-18-2, ahhh!) vs. Minnesota Wild (17-12-2, 5th in West)

10:30 PST, FSN West

The Wild just finished taking the Anaheim Ducks out to the woodshed last night, and this does not leave me confident going into tonight's game. Both the Kings and the Ducks have been disappointing so far this season; the Ducks were expected to compete for the division, while the Kings were just expected to compete. I've been lying around all mopey for the past few days because I actually thought the Kings were going to make major strides this year. I don't know why, I guess I always start to think that around September and slowly build them up all the way into October. When you think back to the team we had most of last year, though, is Michal Handzus that much of an upgrade over Craig Conroy? Is Brad Stuart that much better than Mattias Norstrom or Brent Sopel? Is Kyle Calder really better than Sean Avery? (Yeah, actually.)

Thanks, T, I really appreciate it.

If you look at it, we're basically the same team except we got full seasons out of Mike Cammalleri and Alex Frolov. You want to know something really depressing? Last year we tallied 68 points in 82 games; this year, we're on pace for 66. If you had told me we were going to be better this year, I would have agreed with you. If you had told me we were going to be the same, I would have been angry and argumentative. But worse? I wouldn't have even known how to handle that. I still don't know how to handle that.

There's still hope though. Both the Kings and the Ducks look to be teams that will do better in the 2nd half of the season than they did in the 1st: the Ducks because of Niedermayer, the Kings because they should finally get some sort of familiarity with one another. Still, right now things aren't going well, so feel free to complain about something involved with your team in the comments. (No Sharks fans. You're not allowed to complain when you're in 1st place.)

Prediction: Kings win, 4-3. Patrick O'Sullivan reminds us why we traded for him with 2 goals, while Frolov helps with 2 more. (I know, I don't know why I do this to myself either.)

Update: Okay Sharks fans, I guess you can complain now.

Ducks Gameday—The long-awaited appearance of Sleek (oh, and Scott I guess too)

Minnesota Wild (16-12-2, t-6th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (15-14-4, t-6th in west)

Another guest-art submission by spade-in-victorhell
Lots to cover today, but let's start with the important shit: I'll be in attendance at the old Ponda Center tonight on a pal's ticket--224, row J, green shirt. First one to buy me a beer wins a friend for life.

Maybe just as importantly for the Ducks' success, though, will be the return of Scott Niedermayer. I can hear the naysayers now, "But Sleek, what about the tag issue? Nobody's been traded to create next-year-salary-space for a cap-that-has-yet-to-be-set through a rule-that's-just-silly-but-in-the-way-nonetheless."

Yeah, yeah. But I'm trusting Burke on this one; he'll put a bullet in some poor guy's head if it will make the Niedermagic happen tonight. I even got a karmic sign--the Ducks put 41 different cup pictures on their season-ticket pack, and this was the picture used for tonight's game ticket:


Mama Niedermayer and her two bearded sons
It's a conspiracy I tell you! The team was in on this pseudo-retirement all along! (e1)

Anyway, outside of the numbers, what does Scott Niedermayer really mean for a team that's had a long run of mediocrity? Well, let me throw the calculator away, take a deep drink, and tell you.

The Oiler guys at IOF in particular have me convinced that hockey is a forward-driven sport; that they are the ones that largely drive scoring events, and that assuming goaltenders and coaching are generally competitive the team with the better set of forwards will win more often than not. I think this holds true for a lot of teams, but Anaheim's in a strange boat.

Take our top line the last two years, for example. You've got Teemu Selanne, a guy who during the lockout was considered washed up in this league. Then there's Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz, two guys who somehow never got drafted nor really were considered top-line material. Did they all of a sudden turn really good on their own, or were they legitimized on the ice by a blue-line difference maker?

The rest of the forwards last year also had their drawbacks; on the second line were three young kids Getzlaf, Perry, and another undrafted Penner. On the stopper line was a legitimate stopper in Pahlsson carrying around a Chicago-throwaway in Travis Moen and a career-disappointment named Rob Niedermayer. Todd Marchant and Brad May were also throwaways, yet somehow they all combined for a cup-winning squad. What gives? Why did this ragtag set of forwards dominate the regular season and playoffs?

The answer, in my mind, is the ability for Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger to elevate everyone's results, including even their own defense partners -- Frenchie Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell, two guys other franchises didn't seem to want also. Largely I think this stems from each Norris guy's ability to singlehandedly transition from defense to offense; the forwards benefit from this support immensely. This season without Scott, Pronger has still demonstrated this ability, but it's largely in connection with the Pahlsson line defensive minutes; the top two lines haven't gotten any Norris benefit and thus they've had trouble outscoring their opposition like last year's top lines.

So my hockey philosophy, if you will, is that generally, a successful team gets built around its forward lines (and obviously goaltending). However, an alternative path to success can be achieved with the right kind of defensemen, provided they are the quality of player that can make their linemates better. I don't know if there are that many of those types of defensemen in this league, so to have two of them on one roster is certainly a rarity, one that I plan on enjoying for the rest of the year, at least.

We'll see whether Scott really does play tonight or how long it takes for this double-Norris effect to kick in; feel free to offer your Niedertheories on how well this team will finish the year.

Scott's at least done a little heavy lifting this summer.
Interesting fact: The Ducks have as many points through 33 games as they did to start 05-06 (14-13-6). That Mighty Ducks team finished the rest of the season going 29-14-6 to earn the 6th seed, which shockingly earned them home ice in two rounds of the playoffs. This year the playoff-requirement is probably lower, but I'd sure like to see that kind of improvement.

Prediction: Ducks 5, Wilds 2. Goals by Sutherby, Kunitz, Bertuzzi, Pahlsson, and ______ Niedermayer. I'll fill in that blank later. Nobody buys me a beer, but I have a great time nevertheless.

p.s. I probably won't be doing anything for Sunday's Sharks contest, as I'll be offline all weekend. The Sharks are playing tremendous hockey lately, but I'll have a few more opportunities next week to talk about that.

Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday: Round-by-Round BryzgaLove

Phoenix Coyotes (9-10-0, 1 point ahead of L.A.) at Anaheim Ducks (10-9-3, 2 points behind S.J.)

When I reflect on Ilya Bryzgalov, of course I think of the affable goofball, one who is unable to get through a single interview without me falling off my couch laughing. But there is of course another side to the guy—the capable netminder who's stepped in each of the last two playoff years to save the Ducks when Giguere was suddenly unavailable. In total, Breezy has a 9-5 playoff record in 926 minutes, with a stellar 1.68 GAA and a .937 sv%.

To put that into perspective, he's got more playoff wins and minutes than Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Dipietro, Tomas Vokoun, Vesa Toskala, Andrew Raycroft, and three-time cup finalist Martin Gerber, just to name some more expensive options out there.

But let's take a look back at how he got there:

2006 Round One: Calgary Flames
2-1, 3 GA on 93 shots in 226 minutes. 0.80 GAA, .968 sv%

Breezy's start in this series was a complete surprise, because Giguere had just beaten Calgary in the last regular season game just four days before. Somehow, though, Giguere had suffered a hip injury and was a shocking scratch for G1, and Bryz lost his debut 2-1 nearly 10 minutes into overtime. Giguere came back for the next four starts, winning two, but clearly was not recovered—he ended the series with a 3.87 GAA and a .845 sv%. So with the team facing elimination, Bryzgalov started the last two games, allowing only one G6 goal and silencing the Red Mile in G7.

2006 Round Two: Colorado Avalanche
4-0, 4 GA on 121 shots in 256 minutes. 0.94 GAA, .967 sv%

Sweeping Colorado was an incredible feat in of itself; in 25 series since moving from Quebec, the Avalanche had won at least two games in every best-of-seven they had played in. To add to that, Bryzgalov kept the high-flying Avs off the scoreboard until G3, setting the post-1930 playoff shutout streak record at 249:15, more than four regulations without a goal-allowed. It was really a huge win for the franchise, as it meant that the Ducks had toppled the typical "big three" in the west (along with Detroit and Dallas in '03), a fairly incredible triple-feat. You can see some more fun facts about that series in my second-ever BoC post.

2006 Round Three: Edmonton Oilers
0-3, 9 GA on 71 shots in 177 minutes. 3.06 GAA, .873 sv%

The stats line on Breezy looks bad here, but really mostly this is a result of a crazy third period in G3. In G1 and G2 Bryzgalov limited the Oilers to 2 goals in each game, but on the other end the Ducks only managed 1 goal in each game. In the 3rd period of G3, with Anaheim trailing 1-0, things exploded on both ends. By the end of regulation the scoreboard would read EDM 5 - ANA 4, and Bryzgalov's postseason was over. Giguere came back and won a G4, but lost when the Ducks were held to one goal again in G5.

Yeah, that series was a tragedy, as the Ducks lost a lot of momentum with the long layoff after sweeping Colorado. However, I do believe I was the first person to predict Anaheim's cup championship when I wrote this drunk blog-title on 3/27/06: "I didn't say Ducks in seven; I said Ducks in '07!!!"

2007 Round One: Minnesota Wild
3-1, 8 GA on 113 shots in 230 minutes. 2.09 GAA, .929 sv%

Another playoff year, another surprising non-start by Giguere. Here Bryzgalov re-established his clutch postseason play, outdueling Backstrom and the Wild through the first three games of the series, all one-goal wins. He got pulled for good in G4 (through no real fault of his own), and only made one relief appearance after that. Not only was Breezy crucial for advancing past the first round, but in the larger scope of things, how important was it that Giguere was able to deal with his family issues and get a fresh late start in the playoffs?

------------------------------------
I guess my main point is that it's wrong to underestimate the contributions of Breezy; I don't know whether the Ducks would have advanced past the first round in either of the last two playoffs without him. He was the victim of a logjam behind $6 M Giguere, and as a result the Phoenix Coyotes got an absolute gift off the waiver wire (see my latest Fanhouse cartoon for a visualization of that).

It's fair to condemn Burke for not getting anything in return for the valuable netminder, but it is true that the trade market for goalies is fairly dead, and I doubt Burke is well-liked enough in the GM community to get any trade favors. So far, Jonas Hiller seems to be an adequate replacement, so I don't think it's hurting the team any, but we'll have to see what happens if Giguere pulls up lame for another playoff round.

I'm actually kind of expecting Hiller to get the start today. I have no inside information or anything, but I read Carlyle as a guy who won't push the "Giguere v. Bryzgalov" storyline just for its own sake. Besides, it's important that Hiller get a start fairly soon to show why Breezy was suddenly expendable, and a home game against Phoenix may be just the ticket. That said, I'm fairly mediocre at predicting Carlyle's moves; don't put much stock in my predictions, either.

Prediction: Ducks 4, Coyotes 1. Hiller makes good on his backup start; goals by Beauchemin, Bertuzzi, Pahlsson, and Sutherby.

Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—Remembering history so I'm not doomed to repeat it

Today: Minnesota Wild (4-0-0. 1st in west) at Anaheim Ducks (2-3-1, t-8th in west)
Tomorrow: Detroit Red Wings (3-1-1, 2nd in west) at Anaheim Ducks (2-3-1, t-8th in west)

Well, back-to-back games starting tonight against the top two teams in the western standings, not to mention the two teams with the greatest tendency to get eliminated by Anaheim in the postseason (both got swept in 2003 and beaten again in 2007).

First off, there's the 4-0 Minnesota Wild, a game I've actually scored some tickets to. I don't know much about my seats, but I'll be somewhere in the Club Level--a first for me. One quick note about the Wild: last year the theme of this series was injuries. Marian Gaborik, Todd Fedoruk, and Chris Pronger all got hurt in the regular season, and Francois Beauchemin and Kim Johnsson were missing for postseason losses.

Now Wild fans everywhere hate the Ducks franchise, and who can blame them? Each time they've made the postseason, it's come to a quick and bitter end at the hands of Giguere and the Ducks. If there's a positive, it's that results were better the second time--the Wild not only won a game but also scored multiple goals.

Anaheim vs. Minnesota

Year	Rd	Result	GF – GA	OT gms
2003	3	ANA 4–0	9 – 1	1
2007	1	ANA 4–1	12 – 9	0

I don't want to seem overly crass about the Wild's recurring postseason nightmare, though; I've been through the same thing with Anaheim's own playoff demon--the Detroit Red Wings. The first two times the Mighty Ducks qualified for the playoffs, Detroit was there to knock them out, both times in sweeps. But since then, thanks to the balance of karma the tables have turned. The Ducks swept the cup champs in '03 and ousted the top seeds in '07. Red Wing fans, of course, have understandably developed their own level of bitterness around that. Anaheim vs. Detroit

Year	Rd	Result	GF – GA	OT gms
1997	2	DET 4–0	6 – 17	0
1999	1	DET 4–0	8 – 13	3
2003	1	ANA 4–0	10 – 6	2
2007	3	ANA 4–2	16 – 17	2

Anyway, that's really my main point, Wild fans. For sure, I can understand the bitter hatred; Mickey has had its way with Minny in two postseason matchups thus far. But having seen what happens when fate balances itself, I get very afraid of what will happen the next time these teams match up--are the Ducks now due to be the cup champions swept and frustrated by a monster goalie in Backstrom? I'll tell you one thing--I'm definitely keeping a wary eye on this Duck-hating Wild squad. And for sure I'll be worrying about the Red Wings, but that's a more regular occurrence.

I know it's way too early to be talking about playoffs, obviously, but the schedule kind of made this relevant. Speaking of history repeating, though, this time last year the Ducks hosted a 6-0 Wild squad and a 3-1-1 Red Wings team, and beat them both in regulation. Why mess with history?

Predictions: I'll just stick with last year's scores. Ducks 2, Wild 1. Goals by Kunitz and Pahlsson. Ducks 4, Red Wings 1. Goals by Pronger, Niedermayer, Pahlsson, and Bertuzzi.

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.
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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.

ANA / MIN review: Forget the Selke, let’s give Pahlsson the Smythe!

With round two starting tomorrow, I doubt I’ll have time to properly recap the first round victory over the Wild (yet another instance of California dominating Minnesota), but I do want to take a stab at answering the question of who the real stars of the series were. To be fair, you can make a case for a lot of Anaheim players here:

• Ilja Bryzgalov, for admirably stepping in on zero notice for G1 and playing well enough to start the next three games;
• Getzlaf, Perry, and Penner, who combined for three of the four game-winners in the series;
• Chris Pronger, who led the team in ice time (142 minutes) and scoring (2-4-6);
• or even the d-pair of Niedermayer and Beauchemin, who played big roles in shutting down the Wild’s offense.

But digging deep into the round one numbers, I gotta say the heroes of round one were definitely the stopper line of Sammy Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer, and Travis Moen.

You see, there’s two things to keep track of when trying to evaluate the performance of a line: the first obvious one is production, both in goals-for and goals-against. Most people do alright in eyeballing those ‘counting’ stats, and can see who is producing and preventing goals. The second is trickier, but probably just as important, and that is context: who are lines playing against, and what the expected outcome from such a match-up?

From LCS Hockey’s ANA-MIN series rundown:

Hey, maybe this is the postseason people start noticing that Samuel Pahlsson is one of the top two or three defensive forwards in hockey. Not only did Sammy play a big role in containing Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra, he also chipped in three assists.

This line was unbelievable in round one, totaling 2 goals and 5 assists while frustrating the hell out of the Wild’s dual Slovak threat. (Selanne / McDonald / Kunitz, by comparison, totaled 2 goals and 1 assist in the series, while playing against much less productive players).

Pahlsson in particular was a standout. Using IOF’s H2H ice time site, Pahlsson was on the ice for 63% of Gaborik’s 5-on-5 ice time and 64% of Demitra’s. In addition to that impressive even-strength duty, he also led all Ducks in penalty-killing time (27:35, 55% of Anaheim’s total shorthanded time), in which the Wild managed to score zero PP goals. Remember, the Wild had the sixth-best power play in the league over the course of the regular season.

In the 5-game series, Sammy led all Ducks with 16 hits (twice as much as any of his teammates) and 58 faceoff wins (27 more than any of his teammates). And hell, even when Coach Carlyle ran out of players to put on his power play in a penalty-heavy G2, he threw Sammy, Rob, and Travis out and they managed to produce a faceoff goal almost immediately.

In terms of goal-differential, Pahlsson in the series was on the ice for 4 goals-for, and only 2 goals-against (all situations). Considering the opposition he had to go against was generally the Wild’s top line or even worse, their power play, those are astounding numbers. No wonder Coach Carlyle hasn’t split this line up in any one of the 87 games to-date (an unbelievable stat for that trio, really—zero games missed to injury and zero games split up in line-shuffling).

Go get ‘em, Sammy & friends!

The BoC non-believer

I'm really hung over from my brother's wedding last night, but not so much that I can't poke a little fun.

I'm not a huge guy on predictions (other than predicting goals from the stick of Pahlsson); probably the last playoff prediction I made was last summer, when I predicted Phoenix to make the conference finals. I know that picking winners, especially, in the west, is a crapshoot.

Still, gotta poke some fun at Mirtle, who previewed both BoC series (ANA-MIN, NSH-SJS), and went against the BoC teams and predicted 16 wins for Minnesota and 8 wins for Nashville.

Turns out he was only off by 15 and 7. Time to stop copying that monkey, Mirtle.

Ducks/Wild: I need a break

On a personal note, this series started to get pretty inconvenient for me somewhere early in the third period last night. Or to say it more accurately, somehow this series was on its path of ultimate alignment with my coming schedule, but the improbable synchronicity could not be sustained.

You see, my brother is getting married in SoCal this weekend, and I am the best man. Thursday (G5) I will be tied up in the wedding rehearsal, and Saturday (G6, if necessary), I will be locked in to the actual wedding itself. I have made a best-man-vow to my brother (who is by no means a Ducks fan or even a hockey fan) that I will not be obsessive about the Ducks during this stretch, and now that Anaheim will not be facing elimination, I intend on keeping that promise. As I told my brother, “Hey, at least you didn’t pick a wedding date during the cup finals.”

Therefore this will be my last post until next week; my next post will either be a G7 game-day-post or if the Ducks win one of the next two games, a preview for round 2. A few bullets to leave you with, though:

• By no means does this mean I should be off the hook in terms of trash-talk or chastisement for anything that goes down in the remainder of the series. I certainly have demonstrated high levels of hubris and have been a bit careless with karma (for instance, the image I used in the G4 GDP to invoke a sweep was the exact same image I used last year when the Ducks avoided getting swept at Rexall), so feel free to insult me (or Brad May) in the comments.


• Another karma note: even though I suck at growing facial hair (I’ll blame my half-Korean ancestry), today is the first day I’m clean-shaven, also in preparation for wedding day.


• Is a comeback possible? For sure. Every year around this time we get reminded through one series or another that yes, only two teams ever have come back from an 0-3 deficit, and while I’ll agree the odds are long for the trailing team, I expect that I will live to see it happen again (hopefully not in this series). It’s kind of like flipping a coin four times, except with the added factor of momentum, and I don’t think of four wins as an impossible outcome, especially when games have been this close.


• Hey, but there are bright sides to a G4 loss. Having a G5 in Anaheim should give the Ducks a little more money available to try to re-sign some UFA-combination of Selanne and Giguere, and historically, a dominant sweep with a week-plus of layoff has never been that good for Anaheim. In ’03 after sweeping the Wild and outscoring them 9-1, the Mighty Ducks had 11 days off before G1 in New Jersey, and managed to score zero goals while losing the first two games of the SCF. In ’06 after sweeping the Avalanche and outscoring them 16-4, the Mighty Ducks had 8 days off before G1 vs. Edmonton, and managed to score two goals while losing the first two games of the WCF.


• As it pertains to last night’s game, playing without Frenchie Beauchemin was a pretty tangible blow, as I saw a lot more Huskins / Dipenta / Rome than I’m usually comfortable with. The Wild’s offensive outburst wasn’t that troubling to me—there wasn’t really a goal that I thought Bryzgalov had a real good shot at stopping, and it should be noted that Sammy Pahlsson was on the bench for all four MIN goals (the four that counted; I have no idea why that 5th goal was called off).


• I don’t really have a lot of answers for G5, but here’s some shot-in-the-dark guesses to some burning questions: (a) will Beauchemin be available? (Yes, sparingly). (b) who will start in net for Anaheim? (Giguere). (c) how many games will Brad May or Shawn Thornton be suspended? (May: seven, Thornton: one). (d) do I hate the Wild now? (not yet).


• For more Ducks coverage, you can check out Girl With a Puck, Anaheim Duck Fan, Duck's Blog, or On the Pond. For more Wild coverage, check out Wild Puck Banter, Puck Wild, or Wild Hockey (A Guide for the Casual Fan) .

So, enjoy the next game or two without me, and have an extra "toast the couple" drink on Saturday; I’m sure there will be more Sharks and Stars content here to keep you amused, and I’ll stop by occasionally in the comments section. For now, the next thing I’ve got to write is my long-put-off best man speech.

Go Ducks.

Ducks Gameday—And now, your Minnesota iLLLLLLLd

(that’s “Wild” spelled with zero Ws and seven Ls, by the way, a tribute to their all-time postseason record against Anaheim.)

Game Four: (2) Anaheim Ducks at (7) Minnesota Wild
(ANA leads series 3-0, JavaGeek ‘odds’: ANA 95%)

Aww, doesn't this picture take you back to the ol' Disney days?

Are the Ducks really going to pull off another sweep, their fourth since 2003? To put that in perspective, the rest of the NHL over that timespan has had only two sweeps (TB 1, NJ 1).

It's by no means an automatic, given the Wild's lofty home record and how closely each game of the series has been. Let’s not forget that Minnesota has a history of resilience—back in 2003 Minnesota fought back twice from a 3-games-to-1 deficit before hitting the J.S. Giguere wall in the 3rd round. All-time, the Wild are 6-1 in games that they can be eliminated; Anaheim is 6-2 in games that they can eliminate an opponent.

Should the Wild win G4, they can also take comfort in the fact that Anaheim has never in its history won a G5, though it has a 3-2 record in series that have gone at least five games.

The main problem that Minnesota has with Anaheim when it comes to postseason play is that it never gets to show off the best part of its game—relentlessly protecting a lead. How's this for a fun fact? In four-plus games in the 2003 series, the Wild had a lead for only 3 minutes and 53 seconds. In the first three games in this year's series, the Wild have led for only 3 minutes and 51 seconds. It certainly can be frustrating trying to come back against Minnesota (I'm told), but there just hasn't been any opportunity to demonstrate that.

The Ducks played a pretty awesome G3, holding both Demitra and Gaborik shotless, and at the same time allowing Rob Niedermayer to unleash his top-secret weapon (Backstrom: "HE CAN SHOOT?"). Even though MIN had the last change, Pahlsson and RNieds still managed to get on the ice for 60% of Gaborik's even-strength ice time, and both Pronger and Scotty were awesome as well. Turned out to be probably Breezy's easiest game of the series.

Bryzgalov quote of the day (talking about his performance in last year's playoffs):

The witty Bryzgalov tried to convince reporters in his limited English on Monday that he couldn't quite recall his success. "I forget about a year ago," he said. "I have really, really short memory. Sometimes if you ask me what date today [is] I can't tell you. ... I know it's a Monday, but what number?"

Prediction: I did well last game predicting according to the '03 Detroit series scores, so sticking with that trend, it'll be Ducks 3, Wild 2. Ducks, by the way, have won their last seven G4s. Goals by Kunitz, Pahlsson, and the scoreless Niedermayer.

[UPDATE: From the Anaheim Ducks' official site: "Francois Beauchemin will not play in tonight's Game 4 after taking a puck to the face in Game 3 on Sunday night. His status for the rest of the postseason is uncertain."]

Go Ducks.

Now I'm going to hell for sure

(Author's note: I don't even have the right to brag about most of this, as I care little for baseball and very little for basketball, and the Ducks aren't out of the woods yet with the pesky Wild. But what the hell? I'm feeling cocky today.)

2002 MLB playoffs, Round Two:
(4) Anaheim Angels defeat (3) Minnesota Twins 4-1
Angels win the last four games of the series.

2003 NBA playoffs, Round One:
(5) Los Angeles Lakers defeat (4) Minnesota Timberwolves 4-2
Lakers win the last three games of the series.

2003 NHL playoffs, Round Three:
(7) Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defeat (6) Minnesota Wild 4-0
Mighty Ducks allow only one goal in the series sweep.

2004 NBA playoffs, Round Three:
(2) Los Angeles Lakers defeat (1) Minnesota Timberwolves 4-2
Lakers win all three games at home.

2007 NHL playoffs, Round One:
(2) Anaheim Ducks defeat (7) Minnesota Wild 4-1
Ducks win all three games at home.

Ducks Gameday—G3 bullets

Game Three: (2) Anaheim Ducks at (7) Minnesota Wild
(ANA leads series 2-0, Java Geek ‘odds’: ANA 83%)

• Ducks definitely got a big win to hold home ice in G2; This will be the 11th playoff series in Anaheim’s history, and so far the team that has won G2 has ended up winning the series every time. Also worth noting, Wild goalie Niklas “Backstroke” Backstrom allowed three goals-against in a game for the first time in over a month, dating back to March 6.


• How about Corey Perry playing more than 3 minutes on the PK in G2? Gutsy move by Carlyle, considering that he’s played less than 10 minutes of penalty kill in his NHL career, but he seemed to handle the assignment capably enough. We’ll see if he gets put out there when Travis Moen is not serving a 10-minute misconduct, though.


• Still, say what you will about Getzlaf (1g 2a), Beauchemin (2g 1a), or Bryzgalov, I still gotta say that the star of this series has been Sammy Pahlsson. Despite his -2 rating, he in particular has been frustrating the Wild's Slovak superstars. From the Minnesota Star-Tribune:

  Wild right winger Marian Gaborik figured he'd see a lot of defenseman Chris Pronger in this series, but he has learned quickly what Anaheim's real game plan is to neutralize him: lots and lots of Sami Pahlsson.
  
  Pahlsson is the Ducks' 29-year-old pest, and the center is one of the most underrated, underappreciated unknowns in the NHL.
  
  "He's everywhere," Gaborik said.

  Yes, Marian. God is omnipresent.


• Vic Ferrari from Irreverent Oilers Fans has set up a really cool head-to-head minutes lookup site here, which tells me that Pahlsson has been on the ice for more than 2/3 of Gaborik’s 5-on-5 ice time thus far. Check it out, for those who are so numerically inclined. In addition, Pahlsson has played more than half Anaheim’s PK time, which has not allowed a goal in 7 straight games (30 for 30). We’ll see how effective Lemaire is in St. Paul at avoiding that even-strength match-up, and how productive the Slovaks are in a Pahlsson-free environment.

Prediction: The last time the Ducks started a series with 2-1 and 3-2 wins, it swept the defending champion Red Wings. Sticking to the pattern of that series, I’ll go with Ducks 2, Wild 1. Goals by Pahlsson and Perry.

Go Ducks.

Some playoff quick hits

Here's a few quick tidbits about the Stars game and a few other playoff related items:

• My, wasn't that 2-0 game 2 win pretty convincing? There were certainly a few close calls with goals, but it's not like that didn't happen to the Stars on Wednesday.

• JavaGeek made a good point about the Stars getting quantity over quality shots-wise, something I picked up on even in Game 2. That being said, it does need to be mentioned that 26-foot shots look a little bit more enticing when they come from the Stars' two high-scoring defensemen (Boucher and Zubov). Java still makes a good point, but there's no denying that the Stars are throwing more pucks at Luongo and most importantly are dominating puck possession.

• One of the underlying subplots of this Stars-Canucks series is the inspired play of Markus Naslund. I think it's a great move to set him up with the Cycle twins. He's certainly been one of 'Couver's most dangerous threats.

• Even with his noted playoff troubles, it's still shocking that Turco just got his first playoff shutout.

A few non-Stars related blurbs

• I love getting to see some of the more interesting series such as Pitt-Ott, but for the love of God, can someone televise the Sharks-Predators series? Granted, the NHL might want to distance itself from an increasingly violent mess, but I don't.

• At this rate, the Nashville Predators might become the most hated team in the NHL. And not just by NBC's advertisers.

• Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I'm rooting for the Ducks against the Wild. The reason is simple: despite stories on ESPN.com, the Wild are still about as interesting as the majestic growth of grass. That's one series that everyone outside of the Min area wants to go a swift 4 games.

Anyway, I'm off to celebrate my birthday. If you want to get me something, I am looking for an X-Box 360. Just sayin'.

Ducks Gameday—Do monkeys hate webbed feet? and other such nonsense

Game Two: (7) Minnesota Wild at (2) Anaheim Ducks
(ANA leads series 1-0, JavaGeek 'Odds': ANA 71%)

What do you do as a fan when you get to game one of the playoffs, and all of a sudden your team's backup goalie skates out for a surprise start? I suppose you just suck it up and take it.

What do you do when it happens two years in a row?

Watch out, Coach Carlyle; I’m on to you. I’ll be ready for this surprise stunt next year.

Thankfully, the Ducks employ a very capable (if not insane) backup in Ilya Bryzgalov, whose career postseason numbers now sit at 7-4 with 3 shutouts, a 1.41 GAA, and a .945 sv%. For those of you scoring at home, those numbers are in fact better than the numbers J.S. Giguere put up during his Conn Smythe year (1.62 GAA, .945 sv%), though it is important to note that JSG faced more dominant teams with a lesser squad in front of him.

I'd guess based on G1 that Breezy continues to play, but I've been wrong before. Just two days ago, in fact.

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Back in 2003, the second-biggest instant celebrity to JSG was Maggie the monkey, a zoological wonder who was able to predict playoff series results with much greater accuracy than any of the TSN 'experts'. As I recall, they would lay two team logos out in front of her, and she would somehow select one of them as her pick, and lo and behold she was quite often right. She got really famous by siding with the Mighty Ducks as they shocked the world by beating 2-seed Detroit and 1-seed Dallas en route to a SCF loss. I haven’t followed her that much since then, but I think she’s got a decent record in years since.

I really thought that Maggie’s fondness for the MD logo was purely graphical—somehow that Disney duck mask captured Maggie’s attention, so this year I was particularly curious how she would react to a new, grown-up webbed-foot-logo re-design. Well this year (for the first time I can recall) Maggie finally picked against the Ducks, which depressed me more than it should have. But then I noticed the picture:

I don’t know when this started, but Maggie’s not picking a thing—instead she’s operating a wheel-of-fortune that's making up her picks. Sorry, but I think that’s bullshit. As soon as you make decisions by spinning a wheel, you’ve taken the monkey out of the equation—I doubt Bob McKenzie or Darren Dreger are waiting their turns on the spinwheel.

Listen, I’ve never really been one for animal activism, but dammit, let's let the damn monkey maker her own choices! Isn't that really what that gimmick is supposed to be?

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The Ducks have been very considerate over the past couple of years not to keep their home fans out too late--multiple OT games are nice and all, but they have their place (hint: the road). Here are the last 10 playoff OT games the Ducks have played, sorted by amount of overtime.

80:48 (R) 2003 Rd2 Gm1 Anaheim 4, Dallas 3
43:18 (R) 2003 Rd1 Gm1 Anaheim 2, Detroit 1
28:06 (R) 2003 Rd3 Gm1 Anaheim 1, Minnesota 0
16:30 (R) 2006 Rd2 Gm3 Anaheim 4, Colorado 3
9:45 (R) 2006 Rd1 Gm1 Anaheim 1, Calgary 2
6:59 (H) 2003 Rd4 Gm3 Anaheim 3, New Jersey 2
6:53 (H) 2003 Rd1 Gm4 Anaheim 3, Detroit 2
1:44 (R) 2003 Rd2 Gm2 Anaheim 3, Dallas 2
1:36 (H) 2006 Rd1 Gm4 Anaheim 3, Calgary 2
0:39 (H) 2003 Rd4 Gm4 Anaheim 1, New Jersey 0

The 5 longest OT games in this stretch were all played on the road; all home OT games were settled in the first seven minutes. Oh by the way, that's a 9-1 OT record. Strange how our playoff OT record bears zero resemblance to our regular-season OT record.

Prediction: Ducks 3, Wild 1. Goals by Pronger, Pahlsson, and Kunitz. Go Ducks.

p.s. Happy Friday the 13th. Dare I add to the jinx by mentioning that the Ducks have never lost a series in which it has won at least one of the first two games?

Ducks Gameday—Wild logo: Separated at birth?

Game One: (7) Minnesota Wild at (2) Anaheim Ducks

I've put some candidates together, but I can't quite decide. Which handsome fellow (or logo) below represents the Wild’s long lost twin?

Cast your vote in the comments!
Anyway, tonight will be the only game of the series I'll be attending; section 201, Row N. New seats to me, but as I understand it I’ll be directly behind the net that Giguere defends in the 1st and 3rd periods (possibly the 2nd OT as well).

There's really not much to preview; these teams played four games this season, none of which occurred in this calendar year and almost entirely played without Marian Gaborik or Niklas Backstrom, so in a lot of ways we’ll be seeing this Wild team for the first time.

As such, my keys to the game are fairly straightforward: J.S. Giguere has to be great, Sammy Pahlsson has to be awesome, and the less I notice Dipenta and Huskins, the better.

Jim Kelley on why Sammy deserves the Selke Trophy:

There are a lot of candidates, many of whom go unnoticed or don't get the hype from PR machines and writers who think that it's for a good all-around guy who didn't win one of the other majors, but we here at Sportsnet.ca keep an eye on guys who play great D at the forward ranks, win faceoffs on a regular basis and do the things for which this award was created and that's Pahlsson who is a shut-down kind of guy and one of the best faceoff men in the game.

Prediction: Ducks 4, Wild 2.

• Minnesota sets a franchise record for goals in a postseason game against Anaheim, but still ends up with a loss.
• I set a personal record for least beers at a postseason game against Minnesota, but still wake up with a hangover.
• Goals by Teemu x2, Pahlsson, and Getzlaf.

Go Ducks.