Good Game, Tough Loss
Last night Chicago tied the Western Conference Finals series at two games all, after another overtime nail-biter. Both teams showed incredible amounts skill, heart and fortitude. The game went from a tight defensive struggle for the first two periods to a wild west shootout in the third before settling back into a tight skirmish for the overtime periods.
This series has been everything fans of the game could want. Nearly six games worth of hockey have been jammed into four. Scoring, defense, goaltending and physicality have all been featured at various times, Additionally, both coaches have played the chess match at master levels.
After the crushing defeat, I was wondering what was going through the minds of the Ducks players and staff. I came up with a series of “notes to self… in an effort to clarify.
Notes to Self
Bruce Boudreau * Remind the team that we need to play our game for 60 minutes per night, no less and certainly NO MORE. * Playing with five of our guys on the ice is much better than four. * Chris Wagner, if he can go, might be a good fit on the fourth line in the next game. * Yzermaneely is a genius. His post “Keep hitting boys! And when you're done hitting, hit some more,… is spot on.
Andrew Cogliano * Dang, I'm fast.
Frederik Andersen * Remind the rest of my team that it gets tiring in all these pads after 80 minutes of play. * I have to see if I can get sponsorship money from lego. * The post is my friend
Corey Perry * The post is NOT my friend. * Whatever I'm doing, keep it up, it's really ticking off the other guys.
Ryan Kesler * That Toews guy is really good at faceoffs, I need to step it up.
Jakob Silfverberg * Its more fun not to mention, helpful to my team to play than watch from the penalty box.
Ryan Getzlaf * We can score 10 goals in three minutes, but as the captain I have to remind the team that the other guys don't quit.
John Gibson * Find out if I can sell my seat on stubhub.
I'll be back with an game 5 preview tomorrow night.
- Ed