Chicago 3, Ducks 2, OT.

In the span of two days in Chicago, Jonas Hiller went from a hospital to helping the Ducks salvage a point in the standings.

Hiller, who received four sutures to close a cut above his eye sustained in practice Saturday, made 40 saves in the overtime loss to the Blackhawks. He had little chance on Viktor Stalberg’s re-direction of a Duncan Keith shot with 28 seconds left in overtime.

Corey Perry scored both goals for the Ducks (10-7-2), who saw their six-game winning streak end. Both teams had plenty of missed chances in an up-and-down game, and Blackhawks backup Corey Crawford had some big saves among his 24.

“They took it to us in the second and third (periods,” Perry said. “Hillsie stood tall in there for those shots he had to face. Overall we didn’t feel like we played the way we feel we wanted to, but we got a point.”

Patrick Kane took advantage of a lively puck off the end boards to put Chicago up 1-0 at 3:37 of the opening period. Perry answered with an unassisted goal less than a minute later. Jason Blake created the chance on the forecheck by pressuring Keith from behind; the reigning Norris Trophy winner coughed the puck up to Perry, who barely had to skate before firing in a wrister at 4:34.

A power-play goal by Marian Hossa at 11:24 of the middle period restored Chicago’s lead, and ended a streak of 17 straight penalties killed by the Ducks.

Randy Carlyle shook up the lines for the third period, but that barely factored into Perry’s equalizer at 3:36 of the third period. Perry created the chance by himself, gaining the blue line up the left wing, turning sharply to cut across the offensive zone, then faking his way around Niklas Hjalmarsson in the right circle and firing a wrister into the far side of the net past Crawford.

For Perry, the goals were his team-leading seventh and eighth of the season.

A few more notes:

Continue reading “Chicago 3, Ducks 2, OT.” »

Kyle Palmieri recalled from Syracuse.

Recognizing the need for more offense against the NHL’s best offensive club, the Ducks have recalled right wing Kyle Palmieri from AHL affiliate Syracuse.

In his second week as a professional hockey player, the 19-year-old had five goals in three games last week for the Crunch to earn AHL player of the week honors. For the season Palmieri had seven goals (tied for the league lead) and nine points in nine games.

On Monday the Ducks recalled Nick Bonino, who had been centering the line with Palmieri and left wing Nicolas Deschamps, and the two could will be paired together (according to Randy Carlyle) tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“It’s all positives when you’ve got young players in their first foray into the American Hockey League and they’re playing to a top level,” Carlyle said Tuesday.

Ducks assistant general manager David McNab said Tuesday that Palmieri and Bonino will both have to prove they can perform at the NHL level before determining whether they can be counted on long-term to help the Ducks. But Palmieri’s accomplishments in a short time in the AHL speak for themselves.

“I don’t know if there’s another 19-year-old in the AHL or not. Most guys are in junior until they’re 20,” McNab said. “Very few under-20 players play in that league. He’s walked in and scored goals, done everything that you wanted. He’s been – not a surprise – but to play this well this early, and score as many goals as he has, just his play all around as well, he’s a guy who likes to shoot the puck, likes to score goals, gets chances and plays hard. In a 30-team league and your second week as a pro hockey player, to be player of the week in the AHL, not many guys do that.”

More from McNab on the development of other Ducks prospects in the AHL in a future blog soon.

It’s official: Fowler will remain in Anaheim.

Cam Fowler was not playing hockey when he knew he had arrived, so to speak, as a full-fledged NHL defenseman.

“The last few days they told me to start moving some of my stuff into Scotty (Niedermayer)’s house and get my car out here,” he said. “That was kind of a good tip that at least they were going to keep me around for a little while.’

It became official Tuesday when Ducks general manager Bob Murray announced that he intends to keep the 18-year-old defenseman in the NHL this season. Fowler, who has played six games and is set to play his seventh on Wednesday, could have played up to nine games before Murray had to keep him or return him to his junior squad, the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
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San Jose 5, Ducks 2.

It was a recipe for disaster. Their second game in as many nights, facing a much better opponent than the first – on the road, no less – and the Ducks the followed the recipe.

The Sharks broke out to a 5-0 lead that no amount of fights could curtail (there were six, for the record) and no third-period bounce-back could overcome. The shots on goal count was just as lopsided – 38-11 through two periods, and 41-24 the game.

All of which led Randy Carlyle to say, “we didn’t really seem to get involved in the game.

“From our standpoint, you can’t come into this building and expect them not to be coming out and jumping at you,” the coach continued. “I mean we did play last night. This is the second half of a back-to-back. But we got ourselves out of position and got into lots of trouble.”

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New Jersey 2, Ducks 1.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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Dan Sexton injury update.

Ducks right wing Dan Sexton
will have surgery Thursday to repair his broken nose. He is expected to
be out of the lineup for two weeks.

Head coach Randy Carlyle said Tuesday that “His nose is pretty mushed up. It’s not just a simple break. There are multiple fractures of the nose.”

Sexton broke his nose in Saturday’s 5-4
loss to the Detroit Red Wings, when he was struck in the face by a shot off the stick of forrmer Duck Ruslan
Salei in the first period. Sexton didn’t return to the game.

Ducks name Getzlaf captain.

That 25-year-old center Ryan Getzlaf officially became the eighth captain in Ducks history Sunday wasn’t out of the blue. He was one of two alternate captains last season, along with Saku Koivu, and both were seen as logical successors when captain Scott Niedermayer retired in June.

The more interesting wrinkle was how Getzlaf earned the “C” that was stitched onto his jersey prior to Sunday’s preseason tilt with the Los Angeles Kings.

“The players made that decision,” head coach Randy Carlyle said.
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