Ducks Gameday—Stupid East Coast, Part 2
by Earl Sleek on Feb 26, 2009 7:45 AM PST
87 comments
Anaheim Ducks (30-27-5, t-8th in west) at Boston Bruins (41-12-8, 1st in east)
"As of now, Phil Kessel has to be involved in a deal for either Pronger or Bouwmeester." -- Stanley Cup of Chowdah
First off, hats off to James Mirtle and the SBN megamonster for a couple of items:
- First off, Mirtle's filled two more of his 30 team slots with two of my favorite bloggers -- On the Forecheck is an excellent Predators blog that defected from Kukla's and Flames blog Matchsticks and Gasoline features Kent W. from Five Hole Fanatics. These are two of my favorite reads and probably the reason I don't hold nearly enough natural hatred for the Pred or Flame teams. I don't know if it's related, but they also happen to be the two teams running away with Mirtle's Blogger Invitational league -- I'm slimly holding fifth, but PJ's about to knock me down using his "goaltenders who actually play".
Puck Daddy is leading the fantasy Tavares sweepstakes.
- Also, this doesn't directly affect us, but SBN has now partnered up with Yahoo! to effectively rule the internet. Check out the Y! Sharks team page, for example -- see that Fear the Fin box a bit down on the left? SBN team-specific blogs are getting nice little traffic bumps, which is awesome, but that's the snag for BoC. Yahoo! has yet to build a team page for the state of California, so we're left out. But on the plus side, fuckity fuck fuck. :)
More after the break...
The Ducks are in Boston today for another desperate grab for two points -- I should be around the comments for the second period, I think. It's going to be tough, of course; the Bruins remain solidly atop the east, and even though they've only won two of their last eight, they've still managed to outscore their opposition over that stretch 21-20 (pre-shootout). But still, there's hope for the web-footed ones, because ignoring the Bruins' lofty standings position, they still do play in the eastern conference.
I titled today's post "Stupid East Coast", not only just to follow up Rudy's post title yesterday, but also to show how the discrepancy between the two conferences has played out in head-to-head regular season matchups since the lockout. For the Ducks today, the first table is really what applies, but it's worth noting in the rare east-vs-west showdown how much better western teams utilize home ice (and yes, this includes the Kings' loss last night).
Click image to enlarge.
So in the 325 regular season incidents where an eastern team has hosted a western team since the lockout, the home team has won 162 times and the visitor has won 163. The visiting west also has a slight edge in goal-scoring and special teams. It's a slight trend, but every year since the lockout the west has improved its visitor winning percentage, while the east at home has slightly deteriorated. It's much more a toss-up than when eastern teams visit western ones -- there you can notice a clear home ice advantage. As I mentioned, these tables only include the regular season, but in the three post-lockout Cup Final series, the SCF win tally is West 11, East 7.
Of course, this is only statistical comfort on a global east vs. west basis, not so much on a specific Boston vs. Anaheim basis, but whatever. I don't mind trusting it for one day. Besides, with this year's Anaheim team, I am no more afraid of Boston than I am the NY Islanders or Tampa Bay -- no matter the opposition, the Ducks turn every game into a coin flip.
* * *
One last note: Not only do I still not know what the correct course of action is for GM Murray in the week leading up to the trade deadline, but I'm not sure that I'll ever know. I've come to the conclusion that the correct decision (who to sell / who to keep, see Karen Francis' selections) is extremely dependent on a conversation with Scott Niedermayer, which is something you or I or Eklund really won't be privy to. The huge question is really at what price would Scotty be willing to play another year in Anaheim -- if that answer is satisfactorily affordable, AND if the right package is offered, then I could see a logical Pronger trade. For now, though, I don't see Pronger as an obvious move -- there's still 10 UFAs that should have more priority, though Pahlsson and his mono and Moen and his new baby might be exempt. As usual, we shal see...
Prediction: A second straight game without Brian Hayward? This must be what heaven is like. Ducks 5, UCLA 3. Goals by Ryan x2, Perry, Pahlsson, and Salcido.
Go Ducks.
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Bah, sorry for the post clash Sleek. I know it’s tough to compete with a huge image of Rowdy Roddy Piper’s crow’s feet.
No worries. In a non-communicating blog format like we’ve got, it’s an inevitability. Besides, we seemingly were both a bit scattered in our post focus — this one won’t be winning any Pullitzers (or whatever the blog post equivalent is), that’s for sure.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
A Putz-litzer maybe?
Ho ho if I keep at this pace I’ll be writing for Jay Leno and cutting myself on a nightly basis.
by jamestobrien on Feb 26, 2009 8:15 AM PST up reply actions
i watched the last ducks game and was hoping to see salcido in action…i gues he was a healthy scratch….have u sleekster seen him in action? thoughts?
i agree….you never know who the ducks will beat or lose to….so well c
El Spade-o
by SPADE-IN-VICTORHELL on Feb 26, 2009 8:12 AM PST reply actions
I missed the Columbus game, so I think Detroit was the only game where I saw him, and I didn’t notice him that much, to tell the truth.
Still, two games in, and he’s a +2, -0 at even strength (with one assist), in a little less than 22 minutes of even-strength ice time. That’s definitely a promising start, even if it is in easy minutes.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Prediction: A second straight game without Brian Hayward? This must be what heaven is like.blockquote>
Is the game not televised or something? Or are you just gonna tune him out?
Anyway, Sleek, we HAVE to have a BoC fantasy hockey league next season.
Fuck you, Denis Gauthier. You deserved that 5-game suspension.
Goddamnit, why did the < in the blockquote tag get deleted? Fuck this. We need an edit button.
Fuck you, Denis Gauthier. You deserved that 5-game suspension.
amen to the edit button
El Spade-o
by SPADE-IN-VICTORHELL on Feb 26, 2009 8:20 AM PST up reply actions
Well since ...
you guys mostly have Ducks & Kings stuff, couldn’t you just "pretend’ that this site is for both, with a dash of Sharks and have traffic for both of those directed here? Without it being called a Ducks or Kings site? Know what I mean?
Ever get the feeling we are on a collision course with reality?
by ang6666 on Feb 26, 2009 12:41 PM PST reply actions
It’s possible, and if Mirtle is unsuccessful in rounding up individual blogs for ANA / LAK, that may end up being the solution.
For now, though, we lack enough “focus” to be included — not our call, mind you — that decision got made somewhere higher up in the SBN/Y! braintrust. But it has its upsides and downsides.
Fortunately, I’m not the traffic whore I once was.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Holy crap
Blink and you’ll miss some new blog at SBN.
Welcome to Silver Seven, SBN’s new Senators blog. Gloat away, Ducks fans.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Well, Cotton Gin's weak d-zone play hasn't cost the Ducks yet
But Hedican’s a -1. Bleh.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Blah, the Bruins announcers are drooling over Pronger in that 1st intermission interview. NOT SO FAST! He’s still on our team…at least for this game.
So, speaking of which, I did get a tip from what I’ll call a “sketchy and unreliable source”.
Earl,
I know how these Internet stories go and how that whole thing goes about, but a broadcasting colleague of sorts of mine (he works in baseball) has a pal that works for Versus (yeah, I know how this already sounds) and their crew was in Anaheim taping those vignettes talking about “You’re watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs on VS.” things in the Ducks locker room and he reported that they were clearing out Pronger’s locker.
I know, I take these things with a huge grain of salt and tend to not think they’re worth any merit at all, and for all I know my colleague’s friend could just be an asshole – that said, I felt I should pass the word along. I know that the Ducks don’t come home until after the deadline passes, so at the very least the story has that going for it – I still don’t trust it at all, but yeah, there you go.
That info probably isn’t worth the bandwidth I’m wasting to send this, but hey, save the date and time you get this just in case it does happen.
So there you have it.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Cotton Gin? I’ve never heard him called that.
Thought I would pop in and see how things are going over here
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:08 PM PST up reply actions
haha this could get very ugly now
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:45 PM PST up reply actions
could be an interesting 3rd. I think Lucic crossed the line at the end of that fight and I don’t think the Ducks are happy about it.
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:46 PM PST up reply actions
You can pocket this information for the very unlikely meet-up in the cup finals, but if I’m an opponent, the first thing I do is piss off the Ducks — I doubt they’ll think about hockey the rest of the night. Sure, the team needs standings points desperately, but nothing matters more to them than being the toughest bastards in the league.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
It’s pretty clear that all the Ducks have accomplished is feed the Bruins fire. Pointless, counterproductive, and embarrassing.
You forgot terrible timing — why save this crap for when you need to come back in a game?
http://www.battleofcali.com/
I’ve been thinking for a while that this team needs to rehabilitate their reputation. It precedes the team into every building (especially teams that they don’t face often), and it becomes a huge liability when it’s not backed up with, you know, goals. It makes every team play physical against you, which, over 82 games, does more damage to the Ducks than the Ducks inflict on other teams. It also furthers the “everyone’s out to get us” mentality in the Ducks, which makes it even harder to exercise self-control.
The problem is that this reputation has become pretty engrained in public opinion around the league. Partially because of the east coast bias, the team doesn’t get that deep of a look from most people, so they just take the standard “Anaheim plays physical and dirty” line and run with it. I’ve listened to a lot of away announcers for a good portion of this season’s games, and I swear, it’s like they’re all reading from the same script. So in order to counteract that reputation, I think the team needs a big change.
You are right, but it’s not all reputation. Think back on the last Kings game, the Ducks fell behind in the 3rd period on a Kings PP goal, and what did they do to respond? Promptly took two more penalties so the Kings could ice the game 5-on-3.
The reputation does have some legs, and it is regrettable. What’s worse is the actual behavior. It’d kill us even if everyone thought we were saints.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
This is one of these days that I’m not upset that I have to take off early, or that I just got home. The less we concentrate on this game, the better.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
This team is fun to watch. 66 fight majors now
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:49 PM PST up reply actions
Not that fun. 5 goals on 17 shots? Damn, I’m betting a life-size cutout of J.S. Giguere could probably stop more than the real-life version.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
OK, they are fun to have come to your building
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:54 PM PST up reply actions
So has Thomas even been tested? I have no idea what this shot count really means.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
He was made some solid stops (read: blindly flailing)
by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Feb 26, 2009 5:59 PM PST up reply actions
Three positives thus far
Since I am the prophet of positivity.
1. At least we’re not handing two points to a team that we’re chasing in our standings. We’ll save that for Saturday.
2. Eli Whitney won’t feel bad our out of place about his supposedly shitty defense. He’ll fit right in.
3. We won’t be shocked by the next trade, I suppose.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Oh, and 4. I do like Jonas Hiller’s new mask (it’s probably debuted before, but I noticed the Disney duck logo for the first time today).
This is the sort of game that I’d hope the franchise would have enough balls to go into the 2nd intermission and come out for the third period wearing old-schoold Mighty Duck jerseys. According to the movies, nothing turns a game around like reverting to cartoon duck goalie mask logos. And who really wants to fight with Hollywood?
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Yeah he’s had that for a couple weeks now (at most – probably less).
So Ahlers came on the radio broadcast for a short bit, that was kinda cool. Other than that, fuck Boston.
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
Other than that, fuck Boston.
You’ll get no counterargument out of me today on this.
Although I probably don’t come from the same perspective, as I care very very very very very little about the Angels.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Well considering I’m so sick of the previous year of baseball that I can’t start following a new season until after the All-Star game, my hate is not purely or even largely from baseball rivalries.
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
I do like Jonas Hiller’s new mask (it’s probably debuted before, but I noticed the Disney duck logo for the first time today).
Really? I actually noticed it at the Ducks/Kings game last Wednesday. Heaven knows why he’d put it on there, because it totally clashes with the black and orange.
Fuck you, Denis Gauthier. You deserved that 5-game suspension.
5. At least the Atlanta Thrashers won’t represent the worst Duck beating this year.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
true, but losing to the 2nd best team in the NHL doesn’t hurt like it does when losing to Atlanta.
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
Speak for yourself. This sucks — they need to invent a lower league for the Ducks to play in, I think.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Yeah, tonight we looked like the Sharks trying to compete in Detroit. It’s just so unlikely to ever happen.
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
Hey! Leave the Sharks out of the Ducks lost! We are innocent bystanders in your slaughter tonight.
Ever get the feeling we are on a collision course with reality?
by ang6666 on Feb 26, 2009 8:07 PM PST up reply actions
So when is RC going to empty the net?
I say now, just for the hell of it.
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
Probably not tonight. Hell, the Ducks can’t even hold the puck deep — you’d think based on the play that Boston was trailing this game.
Way to hold that deficit, Ducks.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
oh oh oh!! I like that…let’s put Hedican in the net!!!!!!! That would be fun!
He and Morrison can just hang out there together!!!
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
B-Mo has not been on the ice for a goal-against. On the list of people to bash today, he’s way low on the list.
So, too, is Cotton Gin.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
I suppose, but I’m reserving my blame for players who were on the ice or in the box. B-Mo wasn’t any part of that, and hasn’t been for some time. There’s enough current shitty play that I don’t really need to rely on old grudges.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Well, the bleeding is over for now
Tune in Saturday for some more! Except exacerbated by Hayward! Huzzah!
http://www.battleofcali.com/
No problem, let’s do this again next year, except maybe both our teams will show up.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
let’s do this again next year…maybe both our teams will show up
Not after Murray trades away Getzlaf for Eric Perrin and Bobby Ryan for Hal Gill, our future is screwed.
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
Haha, I just realized that you wrote “prediction.” Not necessarily the same thing as wanting them to win (which is how I responded).
its all good…i knew what you were thinking…id rather SJ not win too!
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
Don’t worry, I just don’t see any team beating the Red Wings in a playoff series. They’re my cup prediction. As much as I hate to say that too, I can’t stand Repeat Champions, but I don’t think Boston or San Jose could take them down.
The only way I see those two having a good shot at the Cup is if some Cinderella team happens to eliminate the Wings before they have a chance to play the Bruins or Sharks.
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
I don’t know if I missed this…
But we’re a winger short now……..right?
Who goes there? I know this may be out of Sleek’s realm being that it will be a prospect?
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
OK, gang, I gotta take off
But in the spirit of properly recovering from this game’s disappointment, may I suggest putting a cotton ball into a large glass of gin. With enough gin and cotton, you can work it so that you don’t remember this game at all!
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Who saw this game
And what was it like to see Scott Niedermayer fight?
People who save up for a rainy day are like milk. And milk goes good with cookies, so you should have those people over for cookies.
I was bummed that I might have been missing something too…
But I’m sure it didn’t compare to this Scotty fight
GO DUCKS!! Girlwithapuck.blogspot.com
I’m not sure this comment belongs in this thread, but:
The Ducks, Oilers, and Stars all lost last night, and it looks like Minny’s about to lose tonight. So the four teams will remain tied with 65 points. Which makes the already-interesting matchups tomorrow even more interesting: Anaheim @ Dallas, Minny @ Edmonton.
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Pacific Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Jose
|
82 | 51 | 20 | 11 | 113 |
|
Phoenix
|
82 | 50 | 25 | 7 | 107 |
|
Los Angeles
|
82 | 46 | 27 | 9 | 101 |
|
Anaheim
|
82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 89 |
|
Dallas
|
82 | 37 | 31 | 14 | 88 |
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