Everything ends. Steaks, roads, relationships you name and last night the one thing the Ducks appeared to hold onto the most was ended by an unlikely opponent- the Winnipeg Jets. Take what you want from the game, relish in the win, accept the Jets won despite being outplayed, or just focus on the minutiae but do not ignore the others story. What’s that?- Another story- where?
First and foremost the Jets got lucky and Ondrej Pavelec did something he has rarely been able to do for his team, steal a win. After that the story was all Ducks in that game and how they played. It continued after too but first let’s take a look at Perry.
He took the puck and shot it into the Jets net long after the play was whistled dead. It was ignorant, certainly out of frustration, and most importantly indicative of Corey Perry under pressure. The same stupidity and classlessness was shared by Getzlaf post-game too with this comment:
"There's a lot of distractions going on this week with this outdoor game," Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "Everybody wants to talk about it, and everyone's been talking about it for two weeks, so it's hard to focus in on what you need to do and getting the two points on hand. But that's no excuse."
Ryan is not the sharpest knife in the drawer because offering an excuse and then saying it’s ‘no excuse’ is rather contradictory. It’s also weak and classless, at least if reports are correct in there were no other comments about the game from the Ducks’ captain. At least the coach, Brue Boudreau, had some perspective and grace in defeat recognizing how the Jets played his team, and beat them.
So before you say my ‘panties are in a knot’ hear me out. Perry and Getzlaf are on your team Canada roster- good luck with ‘focus’ and ‘distractions’ in Sochi guys. I’ve honestly never been a huge Getzlaf fan, not that he’s a bad hockey player but how he plays- he just rubs me the wrong way. This rubs me even more, this excuse and how it was laid out. I also don’t like what Perry did and while he took an unsportsmanlike penalty he needed to learn a bigger lesson during the melee that ensued after. Yes fighting in hockey is stupid, but that’s when two goons stage one. I attribute scrums after the whistle like that to football fumbles, anything goes; like how Alex Burrows plays. At least that’s what my illogical feeling on the matter is. It’s almost too bad that Peluso had his butt stapled to the bench after his give away that made it 3-2 as had their been time I’d have love to see him make life uncomfortable for some one on the Ducks- FINES BE DAMNED!
However it’s one game but the attitudes of Perry and Getzlaf concern me because those are experienced guys who should know adversity better and how to overcome it, not make excuses after the fact or take penalties. More importantly the team, whoever it is who just beat you deserves a bit of acknowledgement and respect. The Jets last night took everything the Ducks had and still beat them- ugly or not.
However animosity runs deep in the Ducks’ pond as the three starts were Pavelec, Maroon and Fowler. Not even the guy who scored the game winner shorthanded, Evander Kane, in his first game in nearly two weeks could get some love from the Ducks media group.
When that much denial exists within in an organization I look forward to the eventual playoff meltdown.