Sunday night's game in New York was brutal. There is bad but this one was, to quote “The American Dream… Dusty Rhodes, was “egg suckin' yella dog" bad. Simply, the Rangers out Ducked, the Ducks. there will be no more commentary on this game due to the onset of nausea.
Ducks at Blue Jackets
There is an interesting twist to tonight's game in Columbus. Defenseman Cam Fowler will be a healthy scratch for the first time in his nearly five year career. I have thought several times that giving the Windsor, Ontario a night to watch the game from the press box would be a good idea, but it would leave too big a hole in the defense. The Ducks finally have enough quality defensemen on the roster to let Fowler sit out. This is a clear message from coach Bruce Boudreau to pick up his level of play or be a spectator this spring.
There are few reasons why I thought Fowler needed a game off recently. Although his general stats have been decent, he has two games in the past eight where he went -3. He has looked a out of sync since the deadline, the Ducks have shuffled partners on him, but that's the game and good players need to adapt, he hasn't.
Tonight is the right night to “rest… Fowler. He isn't playing much better than Wisniewski, Lindholm or Beauchemin and Anaheim needs Vatanen on the power play. Despres has played quite well since his arrival from Pittsburgh, he should be in the lineup. The Blue Jackets are a physical team. To matchup the Ducks need a bit more physicality of their own, which is where Clayton Stoner fits in. Some additional food for thought Korbinian Holzer, acquired at the deadline, is fit to play. He is the eighth defenseman. Boudreau is going to want him in the lineup at least once before the playoffs.
John Gibson starts in goal after Frederik Andersen started the past two contests. Boudreau has not said who his number one man is yet, but it looks like Gibson may be inching ahead of Andersen. The best scenario is that the two goalies push each other to the point where they are trying to out do each other when they get their chance to play.
Among the forwards, Emerson Etem will be scratched tonight. It is a bit odd that the Ducks two big forward acquisitions at the deadline, Tomas Fleischmann and Jiri Sekac are both on the fourth line. Here is tonight's lineup:
Forwards Maroon-Getzlaf-Perry Beleskey-Kesler-Palmieri Cogliano-Thompson-Sifverberg Fleischmann-Rakell-Sekac
Defensemen Beauchemin-Lindholm Despres-Wiz Stoner-Vatanen
Goalies Gibson Andersen
I am putting together the pre-playoff Duck fan survey, so be prepared to be a participant. The last I time I did it, your answers were great.
-Ed