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Ducks drop 10th in a row; Carlyle feeling the heat |
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The Anaheim Ducks appeared to be snapping out of the duldroms that had them losing nine games in a row.
Leading 3-0, at home, with 40 minutes to play, surely they wouldn't blow this? Not in this moment? Not with an extended road trip on the horizon? Not with John Gibson between the pipes? Not at home?
Impossible, right?
No. Not for this team. Not when you're a team stuck in a vortex of bad breaks, injuries and underperformance.
Before I finished my second period beer it was 3-3.
A momentary lapse in dominance by Pittsburgh allowed Jakob Silfverberg to tease us with a shorthanded goal to regain a 4-3 lead heading into the third.
Surely they wouldn't blow this? Not in this moment? Not with an extended road trip on the horizon? Not with John Gibson between the pipes? Not at home?
Where have I heard this before?
No. Not for this team. Not when you're a team stuck in a vortex of bad breaks, injuries and underperformance. Hope alive - gone - crushed by a team that was very clearly much better than its opponent. Pittsburgh took over and cruised to a 7-4 road victory. Game, set, match.
Ten consecutive losses. T...E...N...10.
Randy Carlyle was beside himself following the game. He snapped at a reporter, told him not to ask dumb questions and left in a huff. Why? Because the reporter asked about his job security. You think he's feeling the heat? Think lobster hovering over a pot of boiling water hot. Guess who the lobster is?
I sat down for the game expecting an A+ performance from the prideful Ducks. What I saw was a high school kid trying to fake his way through a final he never even opened a book for.
I don't know where the Ducks go from here, but it has to start with a change at the top. We see the writing on the wall. Randy sees the writing on the wall. Does Bob? I'm not so sure.
Try to enjoy some football today and forget, at least for a day, that the Ducks era as we know it is crashing down to Earth right before our eyes.
Thanks for reading,
Steve