March 2011 Archives

There's really no such thing as a ho-hum win in Anaheim these days.

Monday could have been, given the matchup between two teams on opposite ends of the playoff picture. But an early 2-0 lead by the Avalanche, and the first three-goal, five-point game by an NHL player over the age of 40 changed that.

Teemu Selanne did not so much steal the show -- he was the show, figuring into all five Ducks goals on a night when they needed every one.

"I've been feeling great all year," he said. "I've been able to play with great players all the time. It has been fun. That's the only reason I'm still around."

The questions of whether or not Selanne will retire, but Monday's game could only nudge him in the "should-I-stay" direction.

Here are some of the milestones Selanne achieved, courtesy of the Ducks' PR staff:

Ray Emery may be the latest goalie to be part of Randy Carlyle's "1 and 1-A" platoon, but for now he's the NHL's second star of the week.

From the league's official press release:

Emery continued his successful comeback from hip surgery by posting a 2-0-0 record, 0.99 goals-against average and .968 save percentage last week, helping the Ducks (40-27-5) jump to eighth place in the Western Conference playoff race. Emery stopped 61 of 63 shots, beginning with a 30-save performance in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Mar. 16 -- his first NHL start in over a year. He also recorded 31 saves in backstopping Anaheim to a 2-1 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings Mar. 19. Emery's start vs. St. Louis was his first in the NHL since Feb. 1, 2010 as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. He underwent season-ending hip surgery a month later and became a free agent at the end of the season. Emery signed with Anaheim on Feb. 7, was recalled from AHL Syracuse Mar. 7 and made his 2010-11 NHL debut in a relief appearance on Mar. 13 vs. Phoenix.

Emery played well in Syracuse, too, so his success at the NHL level hasn't exactly come out of nowhere. Most importantly, he hasn't had any physical setbacks. The question now is, what becomes of Emery and Dan Ellis once Jonas Hiller is healthy? It's a good problem to have.

The Ducks also signed free-agent forward Rick Schofield, a rookie fresh off his senior season with Lake Superior State, to a one-year, entry-level deal. The 23-year-old from Pickering, Ontario, led the Lakers with 17 goals and 18 assists in 39 games last season. He tallied 51 goals and 53 assists in 144 games over his four-year career.

Teemu Selanne can't remember being part of a team that pulled out as many late wins as this group of Ducks. And if it hasn't happened to the 40-year-old right wing, then it probably hasn't happened here before.

The Ducks' 5-4 overtime win over the Calgary Flames was their second OT win in as many days and their fourth this month. Most importantly, it allowed the Ducks to reach eighth place in the Western Conference and dropped the Flames to 10th.

One night after Corey Perry scored off a clean snipe in overtime to beat the Kings, it was Perry again who got credit for deflecting Toni Lymdan's slapshot at 2:38 of overtime to beat Calgary. Perry became the first player in franchise history to score overtime goals in consecutive games, and gave Anaheim overtime wins in back-to-back games for just the third time ever. Two have come in the last month.

What does it all mean?

"It just says that we have fight left in us at the end of the game, and we don't just roll over," Perry said. "There's always a chance for us."

The Ducks squandered an early 3-0 lead when Jarome Iginla's power-play goal at 7:10 of the third period put Calgary ahead 4-3. But Selanne's re-direction of a Ryan Getzlaf shot tied the game at 4 with 2:01 left in the third period.

"I'd like to see that we don't put ourselves in that situation that many times," Selanne said, "but it doesn't really matter how you win the games, you need those two points. ... Every point is so critical right now. It's unbelievable how tight it is."

And therein lies the value of the Ducks' ability to bounce back. On Sunday the Predators needed overtime to beat Buffalo, while the Blackhawks got a goal in the final seven minutes to beat the Coyotes. On Saturday, seven of the 10 games were either decided by one goal, or two including empty-netters.

So unless your opponent is already looking to next year, it's unreasonable to expect to win big in the NHL -- or simply to believe that a 3-0 lead gained six minutes into a game will stand. Calmness under pressure is a virtue.

The Ducks remained calm even after Bobby Ryan couldn't convert a penalty-shot attempt 2:34 into the overtime period, when he was tripped en route to the net by Calgary defenseman Steve Staios. It was Ryan's second overtime penalty-shot attempt this month; he converted the first to beat Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings on March 2.

"Penalty shots are funny. Everybody thinks it's either make or break, but it's only one play in the game," Getzlaf said. "It's definitely an emotional play, but it's one of those situations where we knew what we had to do."

Getzlaf took the ensuing faceoff draw and won it by kicking the puck (literally, with his skate) out to Lydman for the game-winning slapshot.

Some more notes/observations:

Whether you're a Ducks fan, a Kings fan, a hockey fan -- or just a fan of round numbers -- there are plenty of reasons to get worked up about tomorrow's Kings-Ducks game (7:30 p.m. at Staples Center).

Considering the two teams have never qualified for the playoffs in the same season, the Kings and Ducks are approaching uncharted territory. The latest the two sides have ever shared space in the top eight was back on March 21, 2000. On that date the Kings had nine games left (34-26-13, fifth place in the Western Conference) and Ducks had eight games left (31-29-14, eighth place). The Kings wound up finishing fifth in the West that year while the Ducks finished ninth, four points behind San Jose for the final playoff berth.

Both teams were in the Western Conference's top eight when play began Thursday; by the end of the night the Ducks had fallen to 10th without playing a game. With a win today, Anaheim would climb back into eighth place, even the head-to-head season series with the Kings at two games apiece, and come within two points of Los Angeles in the standings (85 to 83).

It will also be the 100th game between Southern California's two NHL franchises.

Ducks defenseman prospect Justin Schultz was named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top player in the NCAA.

The University of Wisconsin sophomore had been partnered in Madison with defenseman Jake Gardiner, a 2008 first-round draft pick by the Ducks who was packaged with Joffrey Lupul in the trade that brought Francois Beauchemin back to Anaheim. Gardiner was deemed expendable in part because of the development of Schultz, who leads all NCAA defensemen with 18 goals and 47 points.

The other finalists are: Cam Atkinson, Boston College, junior forward; Carter Camper, Miami (Ohio), senior forward; Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth, junior forward; Matt Frattin, North Dakota, senior forward; Andy Miele, Miami (Ohio), senior forward; Gustav Nyquist, Maine, junior forward; Chase Polacek, RPI, senior forward; Paul Thompson, New Hampshire, senior forward; and Paul Zanette, Niagara, senior forward.

More on Schultz from the press release on the UW website:

Ducks general manager Bob Murray will be part of the management team assisting former Ducks executive Dave Nonis for the upcoming IIHF World Championship, Hockey Canada announced Thursday. The tournament will take place April 29-May 15 in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia.

Nonis, currently the senior vice president of hockey operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs, will be the GM. Recently retired defenseman Rob Blake and Brad Pascall, Hockey Canada's vice-president of hockey operations/national teams, will also be part of the management team.

"I'm honored to represent Canada at the World Championships," Murray said in a statement. "I hope to be able to support Dave as best I can and look forward to putting the team together."

Prior to joining the Maple Leafs front office, Nonis was the Anaheim Ducks' senior advisor of hockey operations from June to December 2008. He left for Toronto with Brian Burke after Burke accepted the Maple Leafs' general manager position.

According to Hockey Canada, the four managers have started scouting and evaluating players and staff with the expectation of naming its staff, including coaches, in March and players in early April. Additional players could also be added after the first round of the NHL playoffs.

The team will assemble in Europe on April 22, and play in two pre-competition games, on April 24 vs. France in Paris and on April 27 vs. the Czech Republic in Prague. Canada will be based in Kosice, Slovakia for the preliminary round.

Ray Emery is back.

That was the takeaway from his 30-save performance Wednesday that preserved a 2-1 victory in an often ugly game for the Ducks.

Jason Blake scored both Anaheim goals, finishing a second-period breakaway with a backhand shot that went in off a Blues defenseman, and deflecting a Lubomir Visnovsky shot down and in in the third period. But even he was in a deferential mood after Emery's big breakthrough.

Emery's reflexes did not look like those of a man who had not started an NHL game since Feb. 1 of last year. Nor did the time off leave him any less feisty -- Emery was shoving players out of his own crease before assuming the butterfly position in the blink of an eye. It takes a special athlete to do that under ordinary circumstances, but even more so when you have a piece of bone from your leg lodged in your right hip.

Between Emery and Dan Ellis, the Ducks can breathe a bit easier about Jonas Hiller's slow recovery time. The goalie told reporters at this morning's skate that he "is going in the right direction" but still can't see the puck well enough to play.

With only 12 games left in the season, the Ducks occupy the eighth position in the West but still have Calgary and Nashville nipping at their heels. Both the Flames and Preds play tomorrow, and the Ducks could find themselves back in 10th place after their day off.

But should the Ducks make the playoffs (and should Hiller be healthy by then), they could have three goalies capable of starting Game 1 of a first-round series. It's a good problem to have, one that seemed unlikely when Curtis McElhinney and Timo Pielmeier were manning the nets.

Get all the game details in tomorrow's editions. Some notes and observations:

Corey Perry was named the NHL's third star of the week on Monday. Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby earned the number one star and Vancouver Canucks left wing Daniel Sedin was named the second star.

Here's the official release from the league:

Perry led all goal scorers with five and added two assists as Anaheim (37-27-5, 79 points) won twice in three starts. Perry scored in each game, beginning with two goals and one assist in a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers Mar. 9. He recorded one goal and one assist in a 6-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche Mar. 11 and finished the week with a two-goal effort in a 5-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes Mar. 13. Perry ranks fifth in League scoring with 75 points (36-39--75) in 69 games.

Seeing Ilya Bryzgalov face the Ducks is no longer a novelty. Sunday marked the 22nd start for Bryz against the team that placed him on waivers in Nov. 2007. Statistically, the 30-year-old goalie has had better starts in Anaheim, but the Ducks have rarely looked so frustrated against their former backup goalie.

The biggest reason: Their own goaltending wasn't so spectacular. Dan Ellis was off, allowing four goals on 21 shots over two periods before giving way to Ray Emery. Emery, making his first start since Feb. 1, 2010, played the entire third period and appeared to be on, stopping all nine shots he faced.

By then it was too late. The Coyotes (36-23-11, 83 points) denied any notions of another third-period comeback by the Ducks (37-37-5, 79 points), and gained a four-point cushion on their rivals with a 5-2 victory.

"They sat back and played a defensive-style game," Ducks center Todd Marchant said of the third period. "They put the puck around the boards, around the rim quite a bit, chipped it by our defense. We had a tough time in the third sustaining any kind of forecheck. You can point your finger at Bryz. He played really well for them. We put 39 [actually 38] shots on net, a lot of them were point-blank opportunities, and he made some good saves. That's not an excuse, but it's a reality of the game."

On the eve of today's game in Denver, with about a month to go in the regular season, the Ducks are in a roughly similar position to a year ago.

The 2009-10 team started slowly, climbed up to ninth place in the standings in February, and were three points out of eighth place by March 1. This year's group started slowly, climbed as high as third in February, and were three points out of eighth place by March 1. The Ducks could be sitting in eighth place again tonight if they beat the Avalanche. (Of course, so could the Stars, Kings or Wild, depending on how things go.)

After Lubomir Visnovsky had completed his second career hat trick last Friday, a reporter asked Randy Carlyle about getting that kind of contribution from a player who wasn't one of the team's "big guys."

Maybe a game like Wednesday's will dispel any doubts about Visnovsky's stature.

Visnovsky is now tied for the NHL lead in points by a defenseman (54) after his three-point game against the Rangers. Visnovsky and Corey Perry both had two goals and an assist, and Bobby Ryan scored a goal and collected three assists what became a one-sided contest.

"We all have become accustomed to his level of skill when he does shoot the puck," Carlyle said of Visnovsky. "He shoots it extremely accurately and hard. He gets to play
with a pretty dependable partner in Toni Lydman, who doesn't really join the rush. That gives him freedom."

Dan Ellis allowed a 1-on-1 goal to Brandon Dubinsky on the Rangers' first shot of the game, but regrouped in time to stop 30 of 32. Lydman, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu - seeing his first action after missing the last six games with a groin injury - all had an assist.

As Bobby Ryan said, in what may only have been a slight overstatement - to take nothing away from Ray Emery's door-opening skills - "Twenty guys contributed tonight."

Notes and observations:

The Ducks secured a major piece of their defense Tuesday by signing Luca Sbisa to a four-year contract extension worth $8.7 million. The 21-year-old will make $1.2 million next season, $2 million in 2012-13, $2.6 million in 2013-14 and $2.9 million in 2014-15.

"We are pleased to be able to reach an agreement with Luca on a long-term contract," general manager Bob Murray said in a statement. "He has a bright future ahead of him and we look forward to watching him continue to develop."

Sbisa becomes only the second Ducks player signed through 2014-15 (Bobby Ryan is the other) and gives the team seven defensemen under contract for next season. Sbisa would have become a restricted free agent July 1, when the entry-level deal he signed with Philadelphia was set to expire.

Already a smooth skater when he broke in as a rookie with the Flyers in 2008-09, the former first-round draft pick has taken tremendous strides since the beginning of the season to become a more well-rounded defenseman. He's eliminated the ill-advised forays with the puck through the neutral zone in favor of a more conservative game, in the process becoming a third-pair fixture (recently with Francois Beauchemin) on the back end.

Sbisa has two goals and eight points in 52 games this season. He's second on the team in hits (131) and sixth in blocked shots (61) while averaging 16:23 time on ice per game.

J.P. Levasseur's stint on the Ducks' bench didn't last long.

He is heading back to Syracuse, and Ray Emery is on his way back to Anaheim, following the Crunch's 3-1 win against the Texas Stars earlier today. Emery was named the second star of the game after his 27-save performance. Emery improved to 4-1-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .943 save percentage in five games.

The Ducks don't play back-to-back games until March 19-20, so it's unclear when Emery will see NHL game action. His AHL days could be over for now, as it doesn't seem like he has anything left to prove at that level.

Levasseur did not appear in a game, only serving as the backup to Dan Ellis on Saturday.

The Canucks have that look about them.

Seeing as many (if not more) Canucks sweaters than Ducks sweaters in the stands at Honda Center is one thing -- chalk that atmosphere up to a rare Saturday-Sunday Kings-Ducks doubleheader that allowed fans to come down from Vancouver for a weekend of hockey and (mostly) sunshine.

The best magic is taking place on the ice. The last two days have seen Vancouver beat the Kings and Ducks each at their own game. Sunday's 3-0 win required only 16 shots on goal and a strong performance by backup goalie Cory Schneider. Following his first shutout of the season, Schneider has a better goals-against average (2.14 to 2.21) and save percentage (.928 to .925) than starter Roberto Luongo.

Two goals by third-line center Manny Malhotra off a pair of Ducks miscues, and a power-play goal by Daniel Sedin that went off Andreas Lilja's stick, proved the Canucks are more than just a two-twin pony. They outmuscled the Kings in a 3-1 win Saturday. On Sunday they frustrated Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan into submission (Getzlaf put 11 shots on goal but converted none), and took their chances with everyone else while capitalizing on a couple mistakes by Lilja and Cam Fowler.

It's a good strategy against a Ducks team that is still missing two-thirds of its second line. Jason Blake (hand) and Saku Koivu (groin) have now missed back-to-back games. The Ducks did well to gain two points against two teams ahead of them in the standings, Dallas and Detroit, in their last two games.

Stopping the Canucks right now seems to be getting harder with every game. Are they the best team the Ducks have seen this season?

"They're definitely one of them," Getzlaf said. "The standings will show you that before you get on the ice. It's not a trick in this league to get to the top of the standings, it's hard work and they've been doing it all year."

A few more notes:

The Ducks have sent goaltender Ray Emery back to AHL affiliate Syracuse and recalled Jean-Phillippe Levasseur. Emery didn't appear in a game after he was recalled from Syracuse on Feb. 23, serving as the backup to Curtis McElhinney, then Dan Ellis.

Emery went 2-1-0 with a 2.62 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in three games with the Crunch after the Ducks signed him off the free-agent scrap heap Feb. 7.

Levasseur has a 2.97 GAA, .912 save percentage, and an 8-20-3 record in Syracuse. While poor, his record is more telling of a Crunch team that now ranks dead last in the AHL. Levasseur, who has never appeared in an NHL game, also has four shutouts this season.

The move is probably designed to give Emery more work; the Ducks don't play back-to-back games until March 19-20 and would not appear to need a backup goalie until then.

The two points were necessary, but not sufficient, to tide the Ducks over until the end of the regular season.

The confidence they gained by winning in overtime for the second straight game might be.

"We want to use this as a confidence boost for us - and the Detroit game," Teemu Selanne said after the latest OT thriller. "It was a good sign. Hopefully we can keep rolling. This is what we need now because everyone's playing well."

None were better Friday than Lubomir Visnovsky, who recorded the first hat trick by a defenseman in franchise history. He capped the trick (pun intended) with the game-winning goal on a booming slapshot past Kari Lehtonen with 3.6 seconds left in overtime. Visnovsky also had an assist on Selanne's game-tying goal with 1:03 left in regulation.

Visnovsky's 51 points rank third among all NHL defensemen and his 12 goals now rank fifth among league blueliners, but he had been slumping -- just one goal in his last 18 games prior to Friday. And he knew it.

"Last month was not very well for me," he said. "After the All-Star break, it was a couple tough games. I needed to wake up. This is the best wake-up for me."

Visnovsky's second career hat trick came against the same Dallas Stars team he torched for his first, back on Nov. 2, 2005 as a member of the Kings.

The rest of the game had its share of ups and downs for the Ducks. In short, the second period was down, and the other 45 minutes were up. Dan Ellis hung tough to make 23 saves, including a biggie on the breakaway against Trevor Daley with 1:29 left in overtime.

More in tomorrow's editions. Here are a few notes that won't make the paper:

Bobby Ryan's overtime penalty-shot goal -- the first OT goal and penalty-shot attempt of his NHL career -- lifted the Ducks to a much-needed win. It also lifted the crowd of 15,098 at Honda Center, which might not see another game this good until the playoffs.

Other than Ryan's goal, defense and goaltending were the story Wednesday. Dan Ellis (28 saves) and Jimmy Howard (26) put on quite a show.

So did the Anaheim penalty-killers, who allowed one goal (and just five shots on net) in nine power-play shifts for the Wings. That included a 1:33 stretch of 5-on-3 play in the first period, and a 1:47 stretch of 4-on-3 play to begin overtime.

Todd Marchant (17:48, 16-10 on faceoffs, three hits) did the yeoman's work. His ice time probably was going to increase after Saku Koivu (groin) ruled himself out of a fourth straight game. Then the Ducks kept taking penalties, his teammates started struggling in the faceoff circle, and all of a sudden the savvy veteran had to pull more than his own weight in a playoff-type atmosphere.

Jason Blake also scored for the Ducks, on a rising 37-foot slapshot early in the third period that Howard probably didn't see. Ryan's goal was his 30th, giving him 30 goals in each of his first three NHL seasons. The Ducks couldn't have picked anyone better to take the penalty shot, as Ryan went to his trusty forehand to beat Howard glove-side.

"Bobby Ryan is a great player and has a great set of hands on him," Howard said. "It was a good deke. He capitalized on it."

More notes in tomorrow's editions. A few notes that won't make the paper:

Brad Winchester was on Bob Murray's radar last summer, but it doesn't take an electronic device to spot the 6-foot-5, 230-pound forward.

Winchester, who arrived Monday from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third-round 2012 draft pick, projects primarily as a bottom-six winger. Not surprisingly, he was skating at left wing on a line with Kyle Chipchura and George Parros on the same morning he arrived in Anaheim.

But the Madison, Wisconsin, native is more than strictly an energy-line tough guy.

"He's been used in front of the net on the power play in St. Louis a little bit," head coach Randy Carlyle said. "We think that he's a guy who can move up and down on our left side, if we feel that there's a necessity to have a bigger body with (Ryan) Getzlaf and (Corey) Perry."

In addition to his 86 penalty minutes and eight major penalties this season, Winchester has nine goals in 57 games. He also has a 13-goal season under his belt in 2008-09.

"Part of the reasoning with the acquisition of the player, is he's been able to provide a level of offense ... he can play on the third line, fourth line, move up on your power play, play a front of the net position," Carlyle said. "If you get players who can score 10-plus goals in that position, you'd like to utilize that."

The nature of Jonas Hiller's injury, and a timetable for his recovery, seem about as clear as they were a month ago.

Asked after Tuesday's practice to describe exactly what he had, Hiller said the latest diagnosis of something called "positional vertigo" was ruled out.

"They can cure that pretty easily through different positionings and turning you around, and get rid of that pretty quick," he said. "They tried that a couple times. it didn't work on me so they ruled that out. So it's a kind of vertigo. Nobody can really tell me where it's coming from. Some people think it's a virus in my inner ear. Other people say that my inner ear got concussed. Nobody can really tell me. Sure I want to know what caused it. I want to get better."

In so many words, Hiller said he's been advised to provoke the feelings of panic that are often triggered by turning his head or passing the puck, "to realize that it's a normal situation."

The scariest aspect of this is that, since he doesn't know the source of the problem, Hiller has no assurances that it isn't something he will have to deal with long-term.

That potentially bleak outlook contradicts what appeared to be a big sign of progress -- Hiller's first practice with teammates since he was placed on injured reserve Feb. 16.