Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo obviously didn’t understand that today was Saku Koivu’s unofficial Ducks debut. Luongo, who recently singed a massive 12-year, $64 million contract extension with the Canucks and was named team Captain last year, stole the show even though he only played the first two periods. That was all the work he needed to do, as one goal would have been enough to claim the victory.
The Ducks didn’t go silently into the night, however, as they had plenty of penalty minutes to make up for their lack of scoring. The game featured four fights, all within the first two periods, and included a couple of instigators. George Parros suited up for the game but all he got was a slashing penalty. Instead, Corey Perry took matters into his own hands in fight against Ryan Kesler. Perry also decided to end the game with a cross-checking penalty and a ten-minute misconduct.
Besides all the fisticuffs, there was in fact a hockey game played tonight. Steve Bernier opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the first when he banged home a bouncing puck. Evan Oberg’s wrist shot hit Kyle Wellwood in front of the net before bouncing to Bernier, who quickly put it in.
Just before the halfway mark of the game, Kevin Bieksa scored on a long slap shot from the point, using Matt Pope as a screen in front of Ducks goalie J.S. Giguere. The thrid goal, which was scored with just over two minutes to play in the second, was scored by Aaron Rome off a pass from Mason Raymond in front of the crease.
Giguere did not look comfortable in the crease. He gave up two goals on 16 shots before leaving the game at about the halfway mark of the second period. The pre-planned goalie switch allowed newly acquired goalie Justin Pogge to show that he can play well with a decent defense in front of him. Pogge finished the game for the Ducks, making 19 stops on 20 shots.
Giguere wasn’t the only disappointing performance of the night. Koivu didn’t have much going on the entire night while recording a minus-2 rating, nor did fellow Finn Teemu Selanne show any flash. Both were expected to make some noise with each other but created far more turnovers than scoring chances. Equally disenchanting was the performance of rookie defensive-defenseman Mark Mitera, who recorded a minus-2 mark when expected to play solid, responsible hockey.
The Ducks’ best scoring chance came on a penalty shot off the stick of Todd Marchant. He was turned away, however, by goalie Cory Schnieder who relieved Luongo at the start of the third period. Schnieder stopped all nine shots he faced in the third.
All-in-all, this was just a bad game. The defense was bad, the offense was worse, and the goaltending wasn’t nearly good enough. I know it’s the preseason, but I say we should send some of the kids back down so we can start building some chemistry between actual players. I’d rather see Luca Sbisa play 15 minutes and learn from his mistakes than Stefan Warg play 10 minutes and not improve.
But what we can take away from this game is there is a leader in the starting goalie competition: Jonas Hiller – one, J.S. Giguere – nothing.