The Ducks survived to live another day after dispatching the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 in front a good crowd at the Honda Center.
Thanks to a light Monday night schedule around the NHL, the win allowed to Ducks to gain two points on idle San Jose. The only downside to that is the Sharks now have three-games in hand on Anaheim.
Here are my notes from the game...
- I was at the game (thank you fans in 417) and overall it was a solid performance from Anaheim. Even when the wheels fell off a bit in the second period, Jonas Hiller stood tall turning aside 21 of 22 shots in the frame. A Shawn Horcoff deflection with 30.7 second left in the period was the lone blemish - without Hiller Edmonton breaks that game wide open. Jonas finished with 34 saves in his 26th consecutive start.
Earlier in the day head coach Brice Boudreau was asked how long Hiller can go without resting - Boudreau responded by pointing out that New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur would often play 70+ games a year and it worked out well for him. I like that thinking and the confidence in Hiller, who was named the games first-star and deservedly so.
- Bobby Ryan took a feed from Teemu Selanne that sprung him free along the boards. He broke in on Khabibulin, shifted from forehand to backhanded before becoming airborne and swatting the puck home. It was Ryan's 25th goal of the year, marking the fourth consecutive years he's reached that mark. More importantly it put the Ducks ahead for good.
Watch it for yourself!
- Selanne's assist on Ryan's goal pulled him even with his idol Jari Kurri’s 1,398 points for 19th on the all-time points list. I thought it was great that he was able to catch Kurri while playing against the Oilers. Kurri played 10 seasons in Edmonton winning five Stanley Cups.
Selanne wasn't the only Duck celebrating a milestone last night.
- Corey Perry notched goals 200 and 201 of his career to put the game away. Perry has 33 goals on the season. They guy is a beast and you have to love the scream after he scored his first goal. It's obvious he still thinks his team can pull this thing off.
- The Ducks have won five straight and 10 of 11 against the Oilers.
- Anaheim now has two days off after completing a stretch of six games in nine days. The Ducks take over sole possession of 12th place in the Western Conference with 68 points, closing within five of eighth-place San Jose. Hopefully a couple of days off will help freshen up the legs for the final four weeks of the season.
- Chances of a trip to the postseason are fading, but the Ducks do have 42 points since Jan. 1, tying them with the St. Louis Blues for the NHL’s best record in 2012. Not bad, eh?
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Numbers game....
I figure it will take 92 points to grab the final playoff spot. I'm just going to break-down the number 8 through 12 spots because these are the teams will the best chance to finish eighth.
Keep in mind I'm trying to show what kind of record each team would need in order for the Ducks to have a chance. Many other factors can play into this but with the idea of a long summer ahead I figured we'd have the time to kick this around for a bit.
For Anaheim to qualify the following must happen...
* 12th seeded Ducks with 68 pts and 15 games left would have to go 11-2-2 to reach 92 points. You want to eliminate as many shootout wins as possible. Losing the tiebreaker like that would hurt.
* 11th seeded Flames with 70 pts and 16 games left would have to go 9-4-3 to finish with 91 points
* 10th seeded Avalanche with 72 pts and 15 games left would have to go 8-4-3 to finish with 91 points.
* 9th seeded Kings with 72 pts and 17 games left would have to go 8-5-3 to finish with 91 points.
* 8th seeded Sharks with 73 pts and 18 games left would have to go 8-8-2 to finish with 91 points.
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