I'm taking time out from the Thanksgiving vacation to post a quickie.
Missed it By that Much
For the first two periods of Sunday's Freeway Faceoff matchup with Los Angeles, the Ducks were stuck on the ramp, falling behind 3-0. Finally, they got into gear for the third period, narrowing the gap to 3-2 on goals by Antoine Vermette and Jakob Silfverberg. Josh Manson's blast from the point at 14:59 unfortunately hit the post leaving the Ducks a goal short.
Party Rock Anthem
Due to the Ducks proximity to the cap ceiling, it seems like GM Bob Murray's mantra is “Everyday I'm Shufflin'.… Defenseman Shea Theodore was recalled as an insurance policy for a nicked up Clayton Stoner. He may play tonight or he may wind up on the bus to San Diego.
Murray did pull off a minor trade last week sending Michael Sgarbosa to Florida in exchange for winger Logan Shaw. In the long run the deal probably doesn't mean a hill of spit, but it showed that after given a fair chance to show what he could do; Sgarbosa didn't fit in with the Ducks plans.
Chris Wagner was waived last week, but he wasn't, sort of. The Ducks did waive Wagner, the ultimate 13th forward, but he went unclaimed. They did not have to immediately send him to San Diego and in fact had him in the lineup both Thursday and Sunday.
Ondrej Kase is back with the team due to Joseph Cramarosa's injury.
Wow Stat
Hats off to Vermette's faceoff prowess. The center won 20 of 21 in 20:31 minutes of ice time against L.A., including some very important defensive zone draws.
NYI @ Ducks
Tonight's opponent at the Honda Center are the New York/Long Island/Brooklyn Islanders. The Isles have been an outright disappointment this season, with the lowest point total in the Eastern Conference. Western Conference leaders, Chicago, are next on tap for the Ducks on Friday afternoon, so tonight's contest has all the makings of a “trap… game. NYI is a team the Ducks can't afford to take lightly; they have more than enough talent to beat anyone on a given night and the boast a legit superstar in John Taveras. Here is tonight's expected lineup:
Forwards Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry Cogliano-Kesler-Silfverberg Ritchie-Vermette-Kase Garbutt-Wagner-Boll
Defensemen Fowler-Vatanen Lindholm-Manson Holzer/Theodore-Bieksa
Goalies Bernier Gibson