Tag Archives: Jason Blake

New Jersey 2, Ducks 1.

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Based on the Ducks’ last nine games, the smart bet is an Anaheim win tomorrow in San Jose.

The Ducks failed to win back-to-back games again Friday, this time at the hands of the current cellar-dwellers of the NHL standings. An inspired effort by Jason Blake resulted in the game’s first goal, a second-chance power-play tally at 8:07 of the second period.

That was the first, last and only time the horn wound sound inside Honda Center. Jamie Langenbrunner answered at 10:39 by sneaking a short-side shot between Jonas Hiller and the goal post to even the game at 1.

The game-winner proved to be Patrik Elias’ one-timer at 1:54 of the third period. Alexander Vasyunov created the scoring chance by intercepting a long Danny Syvret pass in the neutral zone and teeing the puck up for Elias in the high slot.

Hiller finished with 25 saves, but Martin Brodeur turned in a vintage 27-save perforamance. The Ducks held the offensively inept Devils to 27 shots, the second-fewest by a Ducks opponent this season.

“We turned the puck over, especially in the first half of the game, far too many times,” head coach Randy Carlyle said. “We knew the New Jersey Devils were going to play that typical trapping style in the neutral ice. We forced pucks into that area too many times. Consequently, they had a good margin of play in our zone for about half of the game.

“We started to get away from it, were putting pucks in and got our forechecking game going. We seemed to play better, then we made a costly turnover early in the third period and they scored a goal.”

 

Fowler update, Green recalled, Blake back in.

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Defenseman Cam Fowler “has made huge strides the last couple days, and hopefully he’s an option for us in the short term here. We’ll make a decision based upon how he tells us he feels,” head coach Randy Carlyle said Friday.

The 18-year-old has missed four games since breaking his nose against the Phoenix Coyotes on Oct. 17, a longer absence than was initially expected. Fowler skated on his own after the morning skate, and Carlyle said “he is a quite possible option for tonight.”

One player the coach ruled out for tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils is Josh Green. The veteran left wing was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League, where he had one goal, three points and six penalty minutes through seven games.

“Josh Green was based upon (the fact) that we have back to back games,” Carlyle said. “I don’t think it’s fair to our players to expect them to come out of the lineup when they’ve been here and we’ve recalled a player from the American Hockey League. He’s here as a safety net. As far as using him, it will basically depend on the performance and health of our team.”

That means Jason Blake will re-enter the lineup after becoming a healthy scratch Wednesday in Dallas.

“What we’ve asked (Blake) to do is be quick and be first on the forecheck,” Carlyle said. “He’s got to be, as I call it, somewhat of a more tenacious player with the puck down below the goal line. Finishing the body checks, stopping progression — we ask every member of our hockey club to do that and to basically out-work the people he’s up against. Be a safe, responsible hockey player. That’s what we’re asking of him and of everybody.”

Matt Beleskey has a concussion, other notes.

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Matt Beleskey has been diagnosed with a concussion and didn’t take part in practice today at Honda Center. He’ll be placed on injured reserve later today, a team spokesperson said, meaning he will miss Friday’s game against New Jersey and Saturday’s game against San Jose.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Beleskey isn’t experiencing the worst of the typical post-concussion symptoms – dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, sensitivity to light – and there’s good reason to believe he will miss only the minimum seven days from the time of the injury, which projects to Tuesday.

“I’m feeling all right today,” Beleskey said. “I’m pretty sore in my neck and back, other than that I’m OK.”

Continue reading “Matt Beleskey has a concussion, other notes.” »

Ducks 5, Dallas 2.

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The Ducks are far from the best team in the NHL but, when they get rolling, might just be the most frustrating — certainly on a good night, like Tuesday.

They take a lot of penalties and on a good night (like Tuesday) will survive; they give up a lot of shots and on a good night (like Tuesday) will survive; they have some forwards with extraordinarily gifted hands and on a good night they’ll all find the scoresheet. On Tuesday, George Parros did too, which tells you what kind of a night it was for Dallas.

Anaheim survived another game-ending injury — this one to Matt Beleskey — plus five minor penalties and 37 shots against to beat the Stars. Jonas Hiller (35 saves) outplayed counterpart Kari Lehtonen (21 saves), who allowed a pair of goals to Bobby Ryan, and one each to Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry and Parros.
Continue reading “Ducks 5, Dallas 2.” »

Ducks 3, Philadelphia 2.

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On their fifth try, the Ducks won their first road game of the season – against the defending Stanley Cup runner-up, no less.

Ryan Getzlaf’s second-effort goal with 1:53 remaining, jamming the puck out from between the pads of Philadelphia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, broke the 2-2 tie and served as the game-winner. There was some suspense to the goal, as the officials consulted with NHL’s “war room” in Toronto for the second time in the game before deciding the goal should stand.

“(The referee) didn’t make the call right away because he didn’t know where it was,” Getzlaf told Prime Ticket after the game. He talked to his other referee … and they said it was in the back of the net before he blew the whistle.”

Philadelphia outshot Anaheim 42-22, but also had 28 shots blocked — six by Lubomir Visnovsky, five by Toni Lydman and four by Jason Blake and Paul Mara. Curis McElhinney had his share of gems in his first start of the season and finished with 40 saves.

The Ducks made their shots count against Bobrovksy, including a Visnovsky slap shot 35 seconds into the game that drew first blood. Jason Blake gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead off a feed from behind the goal line by Teemu Selanne at 10:52 of the opening period.

Special teams weren’t a factor. The Ducks went 0-for-4 with the man advantage and also killed all five penalties they faced.

St. Louis 5, Ducks 1.

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There’s an almost endless repository of statistics that illustrate how bad the Ducks have played in their first three regular-season games. They have been outscored 13-2 and outshot 145-72. Their 43.0 faceoff percentage ranks 29th in the NHL, their 48.3 penalty minutes per game 30th.

Most importantly, a team that pledged to avoid another typical early-season swoon is off to an 0-3 start. If there is a hockey-statistical equivalent of the word acrid, just take your pick.

The good news – and there was some good news after Monday’s 5-1 loss in St. Louis – is that the Ducks got to come home in advance of Wednesday’s home opener against the Vancouver Canucks. By then they will probably have added a veteran to help on defense, Andreas Lilja, and have the potential for an opening-night atmosphere that tends to make visiting teams uncomfortable – the same atmosphere the Ducks faced Friday and Saturday in Detroit and Nashville, respectively.
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Ducks 5, Sharks 4.

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The 15,872 who showed up at HP Pavilion got their money’s worth for a mere exhibition, in which the Ducks and Sharks racked up nine goals and six separate fights.

Both coaches, who figured the game would merely be a good chance to tinker with their personnel in preparation for the regular season, probably got their money’s worth, too.

Playing on a line with Aaron Voros, Corey Perry had three goals and Ryan Getzlaf had four assists. San Jacinto’s Jake Newton scored his first of the preseason and Dan Sexton potted the game-winner with five minutes remaining.

Curtis McElhinney started in goal and stopped 18 of 20 shots in 29:25. Timo Pielmeier came on in relief to stop 22 of 24.

Veteran forwards Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Todd Marchant postponed their preseason debuts another day, likely until tomorrow night in Vancouver. Bobby Ryan also sat the game out. But Getzlaf and Perry more than held their own. Getzlaf had the primary assist on all of Perry’s goals, as well as Newton’s goal – which deflected into the net off San Jose’s Derek Joslin. All four of Getzlaf’s assists came on the power play.

Sexton took a nice pass from Jason Blake to beat Sharks goalie Harri Sateri with the game-winner.

Stephane Veilleux’s second game of the preseason was limited to 2:20. He and Scott Nichol fought at 11:55 of the first period – the fourth fight in less than two minutes – and were promptly ejected.

Kings 5, Ducks 4, shootout.

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It’s all over for the Ducks.

Their three remaining games were rendered meaningless about a minute before Anze Kopitar’s third-round shootout goal closed the books on this one. The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3, also in a shootout, knocking the Ducks, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames out of playoff contention with one devastating blow.

Continue reading “Kings 5, Ducks 4, shootout.” »

Ducks 5, Colorado 2. Updates with video.

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Teemu Selanne scored the 601st goal of his career, and Jason Blake recorded five points – a goal and four assists – becoming the first Ducks player to do so since Corey Perry in Oct. 2008.

Selanne scored on a vintage goal, finishing a neutral zone breakaway with a wrister past Craig Anderson at 2:34 of the third period. Two days after Jari Kurri flew to Anaheim from Finland to recognize Selanne’s 600th career goal, Selanne matched Kurri at 17th on the career goal-scoring list.

Here’s the video of the (latest) historic goal by Selanne, with apologies for the Avalanche announcers, who make no mention of the history in the moment: 

 

Continue reading “Ducks 5, Colorado 2. Updates with video.” »

Ducks 5, Avalanche 2.

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Teemu Selanne got a 600-goal monkey off his back, and the Ducks are staying alive.

Selanne reached the milestone 34 seconds into the second period with Anaheim skating 5-on-4.

Jason Blake, Matt Beleskey, Troy Bodie and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Ducks, who chased Craig Anderson with Bodie’s short-handed goal at 12:45 of the second period.

Jonas Hiller made 26 saves for the victory. Anaheim remains seven points out of the eighth and final playoff position, currently held by the Detroit Red Wings.