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6 down, 7 up - Ducks beat Sabres for 6th straight win, take on CBus tonight

October 24, 2014, 6:00 PM ET [16 Comments]
Ed Stein
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wednesday night's 4-1 win over Buffalo was a real Charles Dickens story. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” On one hand, the Ducks beat an energized Sabres squad by a tidy margin and Corey Perry scored a hat trick. On the other hand, the team kept turning the puck over time and again. If not for another great performance from goalie Frederik Andersen, who bailed the defense out several times, the result could have been vastly different. Additionally, the Sabres are a poor offensive team, a team with more talent could have capitalized on Anaheim's sloppy play.

The Ducks did plenty of things right. Specifically, they controlled the pace of the game and kept the puck in Buffalo's zone for extended periods of time. At times Sami Vatanen looks like the hockey equivalent of “Pistol” Pete Maravich while handling the puck. He deftly controls the puck on his stick while creating offense for himself and his teammates.

The giveaways have been a concern since game one. The other case of concern is the power play. Aside from Vatanen's two scores against St. Louis, there have been no goals scored. Its a thing of beauty to watch the Ducks control the puck on the power play. They may have the best unit in the league. There is good movement and good passing. If someone would shoot the puck every now and then, it would be a big help. It would be funny to take a pole of everyone who was at the Honda Center or watching on television to find out how many times they yelled shoot.

A few other observations from the win.

- Coach Bruce Boudreau is not afraid to let rookie William Karlsson take important faceoffs.
- Emerson Etem is pointless after seven games. He's had chances, but something isn't clicking. It's possible he winds up as a healthy scratch in the near future.
- Tim Jackman is justifying his spot on the roster with both his hustle and his defense of his teammates. He also gets two-points for his takedown of Tyler Myers.
- On the subject of Myers, someone needs to shake some life into this kid before he becomes a 6' 8” footnote.


Tonight the Ducks go for their seventh consecutive win. The Columbus Blue Jackets are in town and they aren't the same less than mediocre group that played in the Western Conference two years ago. These guys are young, talented and hungry. Ryan Johansen is an up and coming star in this league and their best player. Injuries have plagued Columbus since the preseason, major contributors Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Murray and Boone Jenner are out. There is still plenty of talent on the team to give the Ducks fits tonight.

John Gibson starts in goal for the Ducks, his first action since his voluntary demotion last week. He has big pads to fill as Andersen has been outstanding so far this season. Clayton Stoner will return to the third defensive pair with Vatanen after giving way to Mark Fistric for a game. Here is tonight's expected lineup:

Forwards
DSP-Getzlaf-Perry
Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg
Beleskey-Karlsson-Rackel
Etem-Thompson-Jackman

Defense
Fowler-Lovejoy
Beauchemin-Lindholm
Stoner-Vatanen

Goalie
Gibson
Andersen

Lets go Ducks!

-Ed
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