Final: Sharks 3, Ducks 1

Posted by on January 5, 2012 No comments

The Ducks had an early lead, gave up two goals in the span of 27 seconds and lost.

Sound familiar? Sounds like the entire season for this team, basically.

San Jose defeated the Ducks, 3-1, Wednesday at Honda Center, the first time the Sharks have beaten the Ducks in four meetings this season.

After Corey Perry had given the home team a 1-0 lead after one period, former Duck Brad Winchester and Benn Ferriero scored at 16:23 and 16:50, respectively, of the second to put San Jose up for good.

The Sharks (21-11-4) added a third goal (Joe Pavelski) midway through the third period.

The Ducks (10-22-6) are back in action at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Honda Center against the New York Islanders.

- Courtesy of OC Register

IR Action: Blake, Smaby Return Pending

Posted by on January 3, 2012 No comments

Jason Blake, who has missed 34 games with tendon damage above his left wrist, has deemed himself “ready to go” as soon as tomorrow night’s game with the San Jose Sharks. “It’s the coach’s decision,” said Blake, who has been back practicing with the Ducks for the last week and a half, including full contact. “It feel pretty good, and hopefully I’ll play tomorrow night. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

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Anaheim Ducks Acquire Forward Luca Caputi from Leafs

Posted by on January 3, 2012 No comments

The Anaheim Ducks have made their first move in what could be a series of several to try to shake up the Syracuse Crunch. The Ducks have acquired left winger Luca Caputi from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for minor league prospect Nicolas Deschamps, who will report immediately to Toronto’s AHL affiliate, the Marlies. What a shocker – this is the seventh move Leafs GM Brian Burke has made with his old Ducks team since 2009. The Ducks are now first place in the “Guys Named Luca” contest (wish we could say the same for the Western Conference, though Boudreau is spewing off the “everyone starting at 0 in the New Year” crap).

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Jiggy’s Avs Double Ducks

Posted by on January 1, 2012 No comments

On New Year’s Eve, The Avalanche led 3-0 until Lubomir Visnovsky ripped a rolling puck that came out of the crease past Avs goalie J.S. Giguere (Jiggy) for his 4th of the season in mid 2nd period action. Ryan and Koivu were credited with the assists. Milan Hedjuk would make it 4-1 in the 3rd period with his 2nd of of the night. Both his goals were set up by Ryan O’Reilly. The Ducks tried to make a game of it when Ryan knocked in a Saku Koivu feed with 7:22 left (see the embedded video at the bottom), but that was as close as the Ducks (10-21-6) would get in the 4-2 loss.

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Canucks Romp Ducks 5-2

Posted by on December 31, 2011 No comments

Coming off their first road victory in two months, the Ducks flopped at home this time, losing Thursday to Vancouver, 5-2. Daniel Sedin scored twice and Henrik Sedin, Cody Hodgson and Mason Raymond each scored once the Canucks, who led 2-0 after one period and 4-0 after two. Jonas Hiller started in goal for the Ducks, stopping 12 of 16 shots through two periods. Dan Ellis replaced Hiller for the third. Bobby Ryan had the Ducks’ first goal at 6:11 of the third period. Teemu Selanne and Luca Sbisa assisted. The goal was Ryan’s 12th. Nick Bonino pulled the Ducks to within 4-2 at 14:24 with his second goal of the season. Andrew Gordon and Matt Beleskey earned assists. The Ducks play their final game of the 2011 calendar year at 5:05 p.m. Saturday against Colorado at Honda Center.

- Courtesy of OC Register’s Ducks Blog

Preview: Ducks’Nucks – Anaheim has Upper Hand

Posted by on December 29, 2011 No comments

The Anaheim Ducks are looking to build off a long-awaited road win in San Jose for consecutive wins. The Ducks, who face the Canucks tonight at Honda Center to start a 6-game homestand, haven’t won consecutive games since their 4-1 start to 201-12 campaign. “We’re looking to win games and put a bunch together hopefully,” said Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano, “and now we play another good team in Vancouver.” Anaheim is 3-6-2 under new coach Bruce Boudreau. Vancouver seeks its league high-tying 50th point when it visits the Ducks tonight. Anaheim is 4-1-1 in its last six home meetings with Vancouver, and are 7-2-2 in the last 11 matchups overall versus the Canucks, though they currently sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division. This sounds a lot like the Ducks inexplicable success against their So-Cal rival the San Jose Sharks.

Friberg Helps SWE Edge SUI, Gibson Loses to FIN

Posted by on December 29, 2011 No comments

Ducks prosopect Max Friberg’s Team Sweden needed to go to a shootout before putting away a stubborn Swiss side, 4-3, at the WJC on Wednesday in Calgary. Friberg opened the scoring at 14:23 of the first period on the power play, and scored in the shootout for Sweden amidst highlight-reel celebrations, pulling a Tiger Wood, as one SC Analyst puts it, which the fans didn’t like one bit. Friberg dismissed that: “That’s something that came up in my mind,” he claimed. “Its nothing against the other team. I had no teammates to celebrate with, so I had to do something,” he joked. It certainly was a something, check out the Youtube video embedded at the end of this post.

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Fraser Assigned to SYR

Posted by on December 28, 2011 No comments

Defenseman Mark Fraser was sent down to the Syracuse Crunch for a conditioning assignment in the AHL. Fraser, who was acquired from New Jersey on Dec. 12, had been sidelined the past few days with a strained oblique muscle. Fraser played in only 4 games with the Devils prior to the trade. He can remain with the Crunch for as long as 14 days and will officially remain on the Ducks’ 23-man roster.

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Dead Duck, Beleskey and IR Report

Posted by on December 28, 2011 No comments

Everyone knew there was a rivalry between the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks, but this is taking it to another level: One die-hard (pun intended) Sharks fan ran down to the front row of the HP Pavillion – risking ejection, perhaps prosecution and even the contraction of some bizarre disease – to throw a dead duck onto the ice during the third period of the Ducks’ eventual 3-2 victory.

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Anaheim Ducks Snap Winless Streak with 3-2 Win over Sharks

Posted by on December 27, 2011 No comments

Andrew Cogliano scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period to help the Ducks end a 13-game winless skid on the road, beating San Jose 3-2 Monday night. “To only have two road wins and the last one coming on Oct. 27 was a little embarrassing,” Cogliano said. “That’s not the ideal situation. The difference was having all four lines contribute. When that happens, good things follow.” The standout of all players was Cogliano, and it was, by far, his best game of the season. He was crowned second star of the game.

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