7-Games end on a sour note

I don’t know what to say or what to do anymore. All I know is what I would like to see happen and all I know is that I’m not the only one who feels this way...

Last night, the Ducks played hosts to their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, a game that all on the Ducks side were hoping to win and to beat the surprise team of the season. Although it was the first game of the “Freeway Face-Off Series”, I was hoping that the Ducks would come out on top and set the tone. The rivalry with the Kings is a heated one. A lot of that heat though doesn’t spring from the ice but from the stands as King and Duck supporters are known to just down right hate each other. Although LA fans tend to talk and yapp all they want, we as Duck fans just have one thing to say:

"Stanely Cup"

And though this season, they have been the better team in the NHL, they still don’t have what our team has. I’ve read Kings fans post things like “Winning the Cup was a fluke” which is one of the dumbest things I have ever read because if anyone knows anything, winning the Stanley Cup is probably one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. ‘Nuff said.

The game last night was also the last one in the 7-game homestand and after losing to the Coyotes in OT on Sunday night, it was a must win in regulation game. Coming into that game against PHX, Jiggy, along with the rest of the team was riding a 3-game winning streak, the first one this season. Jiggy was one of the big reasons for that, getting an amazing shut-out against a very, very good Chicago Black Hawks team on Black Friday. He ended up losing the game on Sunday night, but still gained a point. An OT loss tends to be better than regulation loss with the 3-point game we have now. A lot of us expected J.S. to get the start for last night’s game. And we were all surprised that hear that it would be Hiller in net. As much as I love Hiller and think he is the future netminder for the team, his game, like the entire teams this season, hasn’t be doing too well. He’s made some amazing stops and has won some including a shut-out, it just looked like the team was playing beter with Jiggy. Both netminders have been left hanging out to dry by a weak defense and last night, we would see that happen again.

The Kings would answer first and second with two unanswered goals in the 1st period with the second being on the PP when R2 would be sitting in the box on his 2nd penalty in just that beginning period alone. Going down 0 – 2 was unacceptable. Late in that period, hope would come as Perry tipped the puck behind LA goalie, Jonathan Quick at 14:41. After that goal, the Ducks started to put the proper offensive pressure on LA. The 2nd period would start out with the Ducks on the one-man advantage that was carried over seconds before the previous period ended. The Ducks PP would be a shameful one getting nothing out of it. At 6:40 in the 2nd, the Kings, along with their idiotic fans, would be celebrating after Randy Jones would shoot one from just below the point taking advantage of the slight screen by Ducks D-man, Eminger, on Hiller. Most of the 2nd was just a horrible period for the Ducks, with adding to more possession turnover, poor puck handling, and defensive breakdown. It wouldn’t be towards the end of the period where hope would be rekindled.

Ducks had a PP and weren’t able to create anything with it but with .16s left to go on said PP, the one-man advantage would turn into a 5 on 3 for Anaheim. Just after the two-men ended, Ryan Whitney would slap the puck on a one-timer bringing the Ducks back within one. The rest of that period, the Ducks would not see many other chances but hey, they were within one going into the 3rdand that gave me something to cheer and be stressed about. At 5:39 in the 3rd, the Pond would get loud when Marchant would get a crazy bouncing puck after it rebounded off of Quick from a shot taken by Matt Beleskey, and he would put it low in the net.

Ducks had clawed back to tie it up and the intense level for the 3rd was shot up as well. Although it was tied, it seemed like at times that Anaheim was content on sending the game into OT, they stopped moving their feet, R2 would complete the Box-Trip on a 2 min penalty for tripping that was called not by the ref that was standing right next to the play but by the one out on the blueline (see: Ref You Suck!) and was then immediately taken off the 2nd line and replaced by Marchant (looks like the R2 experiment has come to an end). Chances would be made by both teams, Hiller would stand strong but it was poor defense that would help the Kings get their Game-Winning-Goal after the Ducks failed to clear the puck out of the zone, Jack Johnson (Ha! Not the singer, silly!), would shoot a wicked puck up from the top of the RW circle and would luckily tip off the stick of LA Kings player, Brad Richardson, and all of Anaheim would go silent. The only cheers would be from the annoying LA fans. Ducks 3 – 4 Kings.

With the game almost over, it looked like there was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel when J. Johnson would be skating towards the box after getting knicked for cross-checking. The time had come. It would be the Ducks for the rest of the game and they would supply all the offensive pressure and have the Kings with their back to the wall. So many chances would come out from Niedermayer, Kouivu, Selanne, Perry, Ryan, Getzy-pretty much for all who hit the ice for the Ducks. Things were intense but in the end, the reason why the Kings would win would be because of Quick who came out big and made some amazing saves. And that was that. The Ducks would end their 7-games at home on a rather sour note.

All in support of Anaheim are in one word: upset. Actually I would say a few: upset, angry, and frustrated. At least, I am. Although my team came back, it wasn’t a great game. Ducks were out played in almost every aspect. It’s been that way for mostly all season so far. I’m just done with it. Of course I love my team and will have their back no matter what, but I feel that all the time I’ve put to in back them is being done in vain. All the writing, all the Twitter posts being done with nothing much to show for. And it’s even harder being that I am now living thousands of miles from any fan that I can sit down and talk with face to face. The Ducks are in a rare position: dead last in the pacific and 13th in the Western Conference. It’s looking bleak at the moment and what’s sad is that it’s lowering my expectations now for every game here on out. I think RCs decision to put Hiller in net was a bad one. His whole “You win-You Play, You lose-You sit” mantra is completely useless. Along with frustration between the two goalies, it’s cause a bit of a division in the fan base. Jiggy V Hiller. Homers are springing left and right posting silly-stupid threads all over about how Hiller or Jiggy sucks. As fans, we need to stand behind the team as whole and not just behind one member. If you want to just support one player, go jump on the Caps bandwagon or something. But clearly there’s frustration throughout Anaheim’s base.

I know I am pretty upset right now. We need something to change, something to rattle the cages, something to start a fire. It looked pretty optimistic in this recent home-stand, it looked like things were turning around, but last night, it was like the start of this season. This doesn’t feel and/or look good. So the Ducks go on the road for a couple of games. Tomorrow it will be in Dallas against the stupid Stars then the following night, they will be back in Minnesota to take on the Wild. They will be back on Sunday to take on the Sens. I have hope, I have faith but like I said, expectations now are low. Here’s a quick run-down continuing from my last post when the Ducks won against the Tampa Bay Lightning:

[Ducks V Sharks]
Lose by one goal. 2-3
Goals by Wiz, Whitney. Perry with an Assist. Both goals in the 1st period. Thorton with GWG. Strong shutdown by SJ in the 3rd. Hiller in net.

[Ducks V Flames]
Win by one goal. 3-2
Bobby Ryan and Getzy with goals in the 1st. Perry receives an Assist. Flames scored first. Iginla gets the late tying goal in the 3^rd sending it to OT and then the S/O. Selanne scores and Jiggy saves to win who started in net.

[Ducks V Hurricanes]
Win by one goal. 3-2
Canes score first in the 1st period. Scott Niedermayer goal in the 2nd and goals from Petteri Nokelainen and Selanne in the 3rd. Late goal by the Canes in the 3rd but Ducks hold on to win.Jiggy in net. Perry Assist

[Ducks V Black Hawks]
Shut out win. 3 - 0
2 goals from Selanne, one in the 1st and 2nd periods. Boynton goal in the 2. Perry with an Assist and Jiggy in net who gets his first shut out of the season.

[Ducks V Coyotes]
Lose in OT by one goal. 2 - 3
Getzy goal in the 2nd period. Yotes back to back goals in the 3rd to tie and take the lead. Bobby Ryan goal late in the 3rd to tie it back up. Perry gets an Assist. Yotes win it in OT. Jiggy in net. NOT TELEVISED WHATSOEVER! BOOOOOO!

One quick note, a good one, Perry’s streak lives on and is the longest in the NHL at 19-games since Sid the Kid, two years ago! Go Perry!

As always: Go Ducks, even when I’m upset with you.