Gibson Injured?
According to a report by Eric Stevens of the OCR, goalie John Gibson may have suffered an injury, during practice on Friday. Gibson did not participate in the team's optional skate this morning and details are sketchy. As insurance, Jason LaBarbera was recalled from Norfolk to serve as Frederik Andersen's back up. If he is out for an extended period of time, it would be a tough break for the rookie netminder. Gibson had been making a strong push to unseat Andersen as the team's primary goalie in the upcoming playoffs.
Last Day
The Ducks end the regular season with a game in Glendale, AZ against the Coyotes. After playing some meaningless contests, and not playing particularly well, tonight's game has a little something on the line. A home win by the Blues earlier in the day, put them two points ahead of the Ducks for the top seed in the west. Coach Bruce Boudreau told Ducks,com that he expects the Ducks to return to their season long high level. He said, “We need to play our game and do the right things out there…
Is expected that Anaheim will play their top stars tonight as they look to start the playoffs on a positive note. Ryan Getzlaf returns from a two game injury hiatus to again center the top line. The rest of the lineup is a bit more unsettled. Either Jiri Sekac starts on the top line, Matt Beleskey plays on the second line and Emerson Etem sits OR Sekac sits and Etem plays on the fourth line. Simon Despres is the likely spectator on defense. Here is the expected lineup:
Forwards Sekac/Beleskey-Getlaf-Perry Beleskey/Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg Cogliano/Maroon-Rakell-Palmieri Maroon/Etem-Thompson-Jackman
Defensemen Lindholm-Beauchemin Fowler-Wiz Stoner-Vatanen
Goalies Andersen LaBarbera
-Ed