Dan Sexton shows off the puck he used to score his first NHL goal. A good sign: He has acne, meaning there are quite a few years (and hopefully goals) ahead of him.

The Ducks come-from-behind victory against the Stars could be the most important game of the season, and there’s still 52 games left to play.

Not only did they score four unanswered goals after trailing 3-0 in the second period, but there were some important events in tonight’s game that could light a fire under the Ducks and get them playing on a more consistent basis.

The first was the emergence of a second line. It’s easy to see that Dan Sexton provided more than a boost to a struggling Ducks team in desperate need of scoring from someone other than the first line. The loss of Teemu Selanne was devastating and everyone wrote the Ducks off immediately, but with a couple of line changes and a couple of AHL call-ups, suddenly the Ducks are playing a high-paced, entertaining brand of hockey.

But don’t think that this is the undoubted turning point of the season for the team. Don’t forget that after the Ducks had a difficult start to the season they had a similar comeback game against the Flyers, winning in a shootout, but then they fell back into the same bad habits. Then after a few more losses and terrible play the Ducks unloaded on the Canucks, scoring a season high seven goals and winning handily. But again the team fell into the same downward spiral, losing six of the next eight games.

Losing Selanne is not going to turn into a positive – there’s just no way losing your leading goal scorer can be a good thing. But maybe a little injection of youth is what the Ducks were looking for. The 39-year old Selanne goes down, and in comes the 22-year old Sexton to take his place. Then insert Brett Festerling onto the top pairing with Scott Niedermayer and maybe you have some chemsitry brewing throughout the lineup. And let’s not forget about the play of 21-year old Matt Beleskey – he’s been anything but flashy, but he’s played solid in place of the injured veteran Kyle Calder.

Again, don’t be too quick to call this the game that turns around the season for the Ducks. There are still serious flaws in the Ducks’ game, all of which are on the defensive side of the puck. Coach Randy Carlyle continues to mix defensive pairings, trying to find the right combinations that will actually stop the opposition. But he doesn’t have much to work with as the Ducks are still missing an elite shut-down defender. Niedermayer can only do so much for the team, and playing 31 minutes per night, like he did against Dallas, is just too much to ask of the aging defender.

J.S. Giguere looks like he’s turned his game around, but he needs to put in this kind of effort for about eight games in a row before we can make that decision. Jonas Hiller seems like a lost cause at this point, but at least GM Bob Murray will be able to get a good contract for the struggling goalie.

All I’m saying is this is only one game. Call me a pessimist, but I wont believe the Ducks have turned it around until we’re in the playoff picture. But hey, if you want me to be an optimist, then how about this: The Ducks might be last in the Western Conference but they’re still only seven points out of a playoff spot.

Another game, another loss for the Ducks. This one came in a shootout but was the result of the same formula we’ve seen all too often for the Ducks this season. They had everything going for them: they scored the first goal of the game early, they took the lead into the third period, they played disciplined, Jonas Hiller played well, and they had a two goal lead with five minutes to play in regulation. But they still found a way to lose.

The Ducks scored the first goal of the game on a laser shot by Joffrey Lupul, who was a surprise addition to the lineup. On a 2-on-1 with Corey Perry, Lupul decided to fire the puck and scored high glove side. The puck hit the inside post and came back out of the net quickly and the on-ice referee signaled no goal, but the video review proved the puck went into the net.

The Ducks would score again in the second period, this one on a power play goal by Bobby Ryan. Ryan Whitney was standing below the goal line and centered the puck to Ryan who was coming down the slot. Ryan one-timed the puck high to the glove side to give the Ducks a two-goal lead.

Minnesota would score later in the second period to pull within one goal, but the Ducks still looked to be playing well. They hadn’t taken many shots while Minnesota took quite a few, leading the Ducks 20 to 9 at the end of the second, but the Ducks were playing smart.

The Wild came out for the third period shooting, controlling the puck for a long stretch in the first few shifts of the period. They would eventually score the tying goal just a minute and 17 seconds in, and Ducks fans everywhere said “Here we go again…”

But the Ducks responded less than two minutes later on another goal by Lupul. This one came on a delayed penalty when Lupul fired a shot from the right faceoff circle with Perry completely screening Minnesota Goalie Nicklas Backstrom.

And if that weren’t enough, Ryan scored his second goal of the game just before the halfway mark of the third period. This one was unassisted and came as he did a 360-degree spin and shot on the backhand. The puck deflected on its way into the net.

But as all Ducks fans have become accustomed to, the Ducks just can’t hold a lead, even when there’s only five minutes to play. Minnesota would score at the 15:05 mark and tie the game at four with under two minutes to play, the latter coming on a power play. It was only the Ducks’ second minor penalty of the game.

The Ducks would eventually waste a 4-on-3 power play in overtime before the Wild missed on their chance with an overtime power play of their own late in the extra session.

The teams went to a shootout and the Ducks, without Teemu Selanne, only scored one goal on four attempts as Backstrom won the game for the Wild. Lupul was the only one that was able to convert and he extended the shootout a round with his successful attempt, but Saku Koivu was unable to convert on his after the Wild took the lead.

The Ducks can now officially say they are the worst team in the Western Conference, at least by the standings. To be fair, though, they were tied with Minnesota for that honor before the game started, but the result of this one makes it pretty clear.

Jonas Hiller was not the reason the Ducks lost today, but I think it’s fair to say that J.S. Giguere has earned the number one spot for the time being. Giguere should start a majority of the upcoming games this month if the Ducks want to win any games, because they need a spectacular save every once in a while, and Hiller isn’t providing enough of that right now.

I would like to hope for a trade, but I still think it might be too early for a change like that. Believe it or not, the Ducks still have a chance to make the playoffs. Many of their games remaining in the season are against divisional opponents, and winning those games will be huge in their comeback effort.

But the good news is there are only minor issues that need to be addressed. The most obvious right now is holding on to the lead in the third period, something the Ducks are starting to struggle with. The power play is good, the penalty killing is much improved, they played a disciplined game, but it just didn’t work out. The Ducks should win every game in which they score four goals, but it’s not automatic yet.

Have hope, Ducks fans. The team has been playing relatively well and I know everyone can see it. Let’s see how the Ducks do in this ridiculously scheduled month of December and then we can make decision to start chopping off some heads.

Sorry for the late post, but I finally found a free stream/internet feed of it for those unable to be in Minnesota for the game.

http://vexcast.com/play.action?channel_id=369

It ain’t HD, but its something. Enjoy!

UPDATE: OK I found another one, and it’s pretty good quality:

http://www.justin.tv/nhl_live

Enjoy!

Kyle Chipchura’s visa issues have been resolved much quicker than anticipated and he joined the Ducks this morning for the morning skate. I expect him to play a great, high-energy game for the Ducks as he tries to impress in his first action for the team.

In place of the injured Teemu Selanne the Ducks recalled Dan Sexton, who impressed in training camp and was one of the last ones to be cut. Sexton pretty much dominated in the ECHL before being assigned to the AHL where’s he’s only played in five games. Sexton has earned this opportunity for the Ducks and may get a decent amount of playing time since he’s an offensive-minded forward.

Selanne, meanwhile, underwent surgery in Southern California this morning on his broken hand. I estimated yesterday that it would be 4-8 weeks, but there has been a recent report that it might be 4-6 weeks. Either way, Selanne should return in time to warm-up for the Winter Olympics.

Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images

The Ducks were firmly in control of tonight’s game until they caught a bad break…or two. The first bad break came when Teemu Selanne literally broke his hand on a blocked shot.  The second break, this one figurative, came when a puck bounced off the skate of James Wisniewski and past J.S. Giguere, giving the Stars the momentum they needed to eventually win the game.

The Ducks actually started the game very well, scoring one minute and 28 seconds into the game on a nice passing play. Selanne centered the puck to a streaking Ryan Whitney who came all the way down to the crease before passing it across for Saku Koivu for a pretty, tap-in goal.

Anaheim would continue to dominate the entire first period, spending much of it on the power play. Stars’ goalie Marty Turco made some dazzling saves to keep the Stars behind by just a goal, turning away at least a half dozen quality scoring chances.

Dallas got back into the game in the second period, controlling the puck for long stretches and putting 18 shots towards Giguere. But Giguere was able to match Turco’s solid play, turning away every shot to take the 1-0 lead into the third period.

That’s where everything fell apart. On a seemingly harmless play, James Neal softly sent the puck from the half-boards towards the net, with no traffic and nobody near it. The puck, which was going wide anyway, was softly directed by Giguere to his right, where it hit Wisniewski’s skate and went into the net to tie the game. There were no Dallas players within 20 feet of the goal at the time.

Ducks color TV analyst Brian Hayward said, as he and other analysts always do, that the next shift was the most important shift in the game. Well, he was right. Dallas came out to take control, eventually trading chances with the Ducks, before Steve Ott took a slap shot from a tough angle that slowly squeezed through Giguere and into the net, just one minute and 18 seconds after the first Dallas goal.

The next shift was again dominated by the Stars as they continued to pound away at the Ducks. The Ducks, however, would continue to get scoring chances and would continue to be turned away by Turco. The Stars eventually added an empty net goal to win the game 3-1.

And don’t get me wrong, Turco wasn’t playing perfect. He gave up huge rebounds on almost half the shots directed towards him, and most of them were towards the middle of the ice, but the Ducks just couldn’t buy a goal.

But I’ve gotta say…the Ducks played pretty well. They just couldn’t put any rebounds past Turco. It seems like the Ducks are just having that type of season – the one where all the bounces go the wrong way. Remember the 2007 Stanley Cup season? This is pretty much the opposite.

To make matters worse, it was reported that Selanne broke his hand after blocking a shot. It’s far too early to tell how long Selanne will be out but my guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-8 weeks. This might be the impetus for GM Bob Murray to start working the phones a little harder for trades.

But there were a few good signs from this game as well. Brett Festerling played a strong game in his first NHL action this season, and the third defense pairing was solid with Sheldon Brookbank along with Festerling. Also, when Selanne went down, the Ducks continued to play well despite the line mixing. That’s a sign that the players understand the system and can play interchangeably. The Ducks will need that without Selanne.

The only other point of interest is Cory Perry, who had his point streak snapped at 19 consecutive games. That’s almost a quarter of the NHL season, and I would be shocked to see anyone match that this year.

There could be a little scoring relief on the horizon, though, as Joffrey Lupul is nearing his return. Lupul recently began skating and is making good progress with his injured back, but will probably not play until the Ducks return home Sunday. Also, newly acquired Kyle Chipchura should have his visa issues sorted out by Sunday as he completes his transfer from Canada to the States.

But none of that will be enough to cover for the loss of Selanne. Tough times are ahead for the Ducks…

The Ducks have traded a 2011 fourth-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Kyle Chipchura. Chipchura has been pretty useless this year, scoring no points and accumulating a -10 rating in 19 games for the Canadiens.

There are good things and bad things about this guy. The bad is abundantly obvious with his statistics. He actually was benched after playing just two minutes of the last game, and in those two minutes he managed to earn a -2 rating. He isn’t a great skater and he doesn’t have the best hands.

But this is a guy who was the Captain for Canada’s National Junior team just three years ago. He was drafted in the first round, 18th overall, and had (or has) a ton a promise. He’s still just 23 years old and possesses all the assets of becoming a solid NHL player, but he has not played well at all this season.

I’d like to say this is a gamble for the Ducks, but trading a fourth-rounder in a couple of years amounts to a bag of pucks. We’ll see if he gets any playing time with the Ducks or if the team elects to send him down to the AHL first. Since the Ducks don’t have an AHL affiliate, I expect him to start with the team and get evaluated at the NHL level. Hopefully this change of scenery will do him some good.

The Ducks also finally got rid of Erik Christensen as he was picked up on waivers by the New York Rangers. Christensen never found a home with the Ducks after being given many opportunities, and the Ducks will be glad to give his contract to the Rangers.

The Ducks also announced that they have assigned Brendan Mikkelson to Toronto of the AHL. Mikkelson continues to show promise but doesn’t seem strong enough to handle big forwards in the defensive zone. He is still young and will continue to mature, and hopefully he will add some weight to his big frame.

In his place, the Ducks recalled Brett Festerling from Toronto of the AHL. This is a good move because Festerling knows his role is as a shutdown defender, and the Ducks need more stability on the third pairing in that regard.

For the most part I’d say the Ducks are in a better position today than yesterday, but the Chipchura deal will have its fair share of haters. We’ll wait to see if that hate is warranted.

Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images

 

 

Randy Carlyle is crazy.

First of all, it was obvious the Ducks did not play their best hockey tonight and it showed in many ways as the Kings held on to their lead for a 4-3 win at Honda Center. The Kings were able to withstand a flurry of Ducks scoring chances at the end to finish on top and take the important divisional win.

Things did not go well for the Ducks starting almost immediately in the first period. Evgeny Artyukhin took a minor penalty just over a minute into the game to put the Ducks shorthanded, something that happened two more times in the period and another two times the rest of the game.

The Kings would ultimately score the first goal of the game just over five minutes into the first period. The Ducks defense was caught looking at the puck and left Scott Parse alone in the slot, and he scored easily on Jonas Hiller to take the lead early. The Kings would then add a power play goal just over six minutes later to take a 2-0 lead.

But the Ducks kept shooting and eventually one was deflected in by Corey Perry. James Wisniewski took a wrist shot from the point that Perry niftily redirected as he skated by the crease, extending his point streak to 19 games and cutting the lead to 2-1 in the process.

The Kings then took control of the game starting in the second period, playing almost the entire second period in the Ducks’ defensive zone. They had 16 shots on goal in the first period and added another 14 in the second, scoring on a slap shot from the point by defenseman Randy Jones. Hiller was screened by his own defense on the play.

Ryan Whitney, however, would close out the period with a Ducks power play goal to bring the Ducks within one goal again. The Ducks just came off a brief 5-on-3 power play when Ryan Getzlaf made a nice one-touch pass to Whitney, who rocketed the puck into the top corner to make the game 3-2 in favor of the Kings.

The Kings would continue to dominate play into the third period, but Todd Marchant got a bit of a lucky bounce to help the Ducks pull even. Matt Beleskey fired a shot on goal from outside the blue line which Jonathan Quick blocked right into the slot. Marchant batted at the bouncing puck and it found its way behind Quick to tie the game at three.

The Ducks were seemingly on their way to overtime when none other than Kent French, a useless Fox Sports reporter, jinxed the team by saying it looked like they’d get “at least” a point out of it. Minutes after his statement, Brad Richardson deflected a Jack Johnson point shot into the net with under three minutes to play in the game.

But the Ducks turned it on beginning the next shift. In an interesting move, Coach Randy Carlyle put the third line on the ice after the goal and they created multiple quality scoring chances. Mike Brown would have had a great chance to tie the game if the puck didn’t roll off his stick, and the Ducks’ defense continued to pound Quick with shots. Johnson eventually took a cross-checking penalty with a minute and a half to play in the game.

Hiller was pulled to give the Ducks a 6-on-4 advantage, and they controlled the puck for the rest of the game. They took shot after shot at Quick, most of them high-quality chances that Quick turned away, but the Ducks eventually ran out of time and were defeated.

To be honest, the Ducks did not deserve to win. It was their worst game in about two weeks, taking bad penalties and playing soft in their own zone. There were numerous opportunities for the Ducks to clear on many different plays, and still the Kings were able to maintain possession, eventually scoring goals. The Ducks never had the lead in the game and dug themselves into a hole from the beginning with three penalties, eventually giving up 42 shots on goal because of the power plays against. In addition, the penalty kills’ streak of 16 straight kills was broken with a first period goal against.

It’s not necessarily the Ducks’ fault either. I blame Carlyle for starting Hiller over J.S. Giguere, who’s been playing spectacularly lately and seems to have returned to his old, dominant self. Giguere lost the last game in overtime, but he played well enough to earn another start tonight. I’ve got nothing against Hiller, in fact I’ve stated in this blog that I prefer him over Giguere in the long-run, but when you have a goalie playing the way Giguere has you’d be crazy not to play him. Randy Carlyle is crazy.

Quick was the main reason the Kings won the game. Although his team had possession of the puck for a majority of the final 40 minutes, Quick made all the big stops for the Kings, particularly in the final three minutes of the game. Even though there were many things the Ducks could improve upon, it was goaltending that was the difference in the game.

The Ducks will travel to Dallas on Wednesday for a tough back-to-back series against the Stars and the Wild on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

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From the Associated Press and NHL.com:

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Brad Richardson scored the go-ahead goal with 2:20 left in the third period and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 on Tuesday night in the first meeting of the season between the Southern California rivals.

Scott Parse and Justin Williams scored first-period goals for the Kings and Randy Jones connected in the second. Jonathan Quick made 27 saves.

Anaheim’s Corey Perry had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 19 games, tied for the longest by an NHL player since Paul Stastny’s 20-game run in 2006-07. Sidney Crosby also had a 19-game streak for Pittsburgh two seasons ago.

Ryan Whitney and Todd Marchant also scored and Jonas Hiller made 38 saves for the Ducks, who finished their homestand 4-2-1 and are 10 points behind Los Angeles in the Western Conference standings.

Anaheim is 16 points out of a playoff spot after earning a postseason berth in each of the previous four seasons, while the Kings are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

After blowing a two-goal lead, the Kings went back in front when Jack Johnson got the puck from Jones and took a one-timer from the right point that beat Hiller through a maze of players after being tipped by Richardson.

The Ducks got a power-play opportunity after Johnson was sent off for cross-checking rookie Matt Beleskey with 1:35 to play, but came up empty despite a number of close calls.

Trailing 2-0 before a crowd of 14,231 at the 17,174-seat Honda Center, the Ducks got on the board at 14:41 of the first when Perry tipped in James Wisniewski’s wrist shot from just inside the blue line to snap a personal eight-game goal drought.

Jones restored the Kings’ two-goal margin at 6:40 of the second, beating Hiller high to the stick side with a 35-foot slap shot from above the left circle.

But staggered penalties to Richardson and Wayne Simmonds gave Anaheim a 5-on-3 power play for 15 seconds, and Whitney beat Quick high to the glove side at 17:28 of the period with a one-timer from 35 feet just 3 seconds after the first penalty expired. Ryan Getzlaf got an assist for his 300th NHL point.

Marchant got the equalizer with 14:31 left in regulation, beating defenseman Matt Greene to a rebound after Beleskey took a shot that struck Quick on the chest. The assist was Beleskey’s first NHL point.

The Kings opened the scoring at 5:11 of the first. Parse beat Hiller to the stick side for his second NHL goal after Simmonds shook off a check by Beleskey along the left boards and found Parse cruising down the slot unchecked with a brilliant, no-look, backhand pass.

Williams made it 2-0 at 11:33 of the period, redirecting a long wrist shot by Jarret Stoll while Evgeny Artyukhin was off for holding. The goal ended a four-game power-play drought by the Kings in which they were 0 for 13, and a four-game stretch in which the Ducks had killed off all 15 short-handed situations.

NOTES: Anaheim LW Kyle Calder missed his second straight game after getting hit by a deflected puck in practice. … Richardson and teammate Raitis Ivanans are among seven forwards who have played at least 25 games without scoring a goal this season. … The Ducks, who began the day with the league’s second-best power-play percentage (24.5), are 11 for 28 with the man advantage in their last seven games. … The Kings are 10-0-0 when leading after two periods.

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