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Ducks meltdown in game 3 embarrassment

April 17, 2018, 2:31 PM ET [71 Comments]
Steve Palumbo
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It's much too easy to call what's happening to the Anaheim Ducks in this series "embarrassing." What the San Jose Sharks are doing is exposing the Ducks for what they are - a fossilized version of an NHL era gone by.

A little too harsh? Are you watching the same series as me?

A baseball team can lose a postseason game 8-1 and shake it off as a bad night. When a hockey club loses 8-1 in a series they are already trailing 0-2, it says a lot more about the losing team than the winning team. It says they've all but quit.

San Jose simply took advanatge of what the Ducks gave them and that included a bit of - everything. The Sharks had space, time and a whole lotta power play to work with. Anaheim handed their opponent EIGHT power plays and they paid dearly. San Jose scored on four of those chances. They are six for 17 in the series.

Because it's the easiest way to describe it, what the Ducks are doing is embarrassing. They are showing a level of mental weakness I have never experienced with this team.

When they fell behind 1-0 early in game 3, they didn't fold. Instead they pushed back. Rickard Rakell scored his first goal of the playoffs. They followed Rakell's goal with a solid push, killed a penalty, pushed again, got another power play and didn't score.

That's when they wheels wobbled, but didn't fall off.

That didn't happen until Martin Jones imposed his will on them - again. Jones made stop after stop. With each save the Ducks became visibly frustrated and showed that weakness I mentioned. Couple that with goal after San Jose goal and this series is essentially over.

Jones made 45 saves in the win. He's stopped 98 of 101 Anaheim shots. The Sharks are outscoring the Ducks 14-3 through three games. Lopsided is one way to put it. At least the Kings have looked competitive.

This series is exposing every one of Anaheim's shortcomings. They have size, physicality and some skill. They lack speed, patience and discipline  - you cannot win in today's NHL without the latter.

Even the Ducks biggest leader, Ryan Getzlaf, had a meltdown, resulting in a misconduct penalty. The captain watched the end of the game from the locker room. His night ended with one assist, minus-2 and 16 penalty minutes. That should tell you all you need to know about the state of Anaheim Ducks hockey today.

Through three games, the Ducks have three losses, have allowed 14 goals, taken 21 penalties for 50 minutes, Getzlaf only has two assists, Rakell has one goal, Corey Perry is killing his team with his clown-like antics. He's a minus-3 with eight fist-clentching penalty minutes and seven shots on goal.

The series is technically not over, but it sure feels like it. When San Jose finally puts that last scoop of dirt on Anaheim's coffin, I can't imagine Randy Carlyle coming out on the otherside unscathed. That's a topic for another day.

Game 4 is Wednesday in San Jose,

From the duck hunt,
Steve
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