Ducks Grind Out Much Needed Win – & – Our Local Coverage Stinks On Ice!

I went to a hockey game, and bowling broke out. 

The good news: Anaheim flailed their way to a shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers with Cam Fowler potting the winning shootout goal (his first in the NHL).

The bad news: I had to refer to an Edmonton site for decent reporting on the game (more on that later in the article).

The Oil blasted into the third period, hell-bent on handing us our butts and they tied the game at 2.  Only a heart stopping triple rebound by Hiller as the clock ticked down forced the game into OT, and ultimately into that dreaded no-man’s land – The Shootout.

The bowling game started out promising, with Joffrey Lupul netting the first goal.  After Hiller made the save off of Jordan Eberle and with Selanne up, we thought we had this one in the bag.

NOPE!

Taylor Hall scored and then we went 14 shooters until Fowler pinged a snap shot off the top pipe from a weird angle.  The shot might not have had all that much mustard on it, but it found the net and that’s all that counts.

The first period featured broken sticks galore and excitement included the Boynton/Jones/Lupul/Gagner shoving show, Cam Fowler as human Zamboni and Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff colliding with Corey Perry.  Of the injury, Horcoff said, “He got his stick up between my legs. It was like a can opener and I felt [my knee] pop right away.  I took a faceoff and tried to finish the play, but when I went to the net, I tried to stop. There was nothing. Hopefully it’s not that long.”

…Oh, and who could forget Lubomir Visnovsky taking a skate directly to his face?  Hmm, I guess that would be everyone because I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere!  Lucky Lubo was initially booed because it looked like he was diving, but replay on the jumbotron revealed the impact and the crowd quieted as trainers helped him up.  We were expecting a bloody mess, but miraculously, he was only bruised and after icing his face for a few minutes, he was back in the mix for his next shift.

Saku Koivu top shelfs the only goal of the second (assists: Selanne and Fowler) and Selanne stuffs a neat little backhander in the third (assists: Sutton and Koivu), but the Oilers bounce back and tie the game up.

Yes, we won, but we should have won in regulation or at least in overtime.  Why we couldn’t hold the fort in the third is embarrassing and indicative of a team that allows itself to be easily rattled. Our boys need to start eating their Wheaties if they wanna beat the ‘Nucks!

Notes:

Andy Sutton notched his first assist as a Duck.

Lupul netted his first shootout goal as a Duck this season.

Fowler lit up the announcers with his aggressive coast-to-coast attack in the third – something he’s been working on since training camp.

Doubleshifting the Selanne/Koivu line is definitely paying off.

Now then.  About the abominable coverage here in Southern California.  The Orange County Register’s story is tiny and goes into no details.  The Los Angeles Times story is just the AP feed and The Daily News article wasn’t much better.  No mention of Lubo’s near horror, no details of Horcoff’s injury, no speculation as to why Corey Perry’s nickname used to be “Gumby”.  Does no one care about their own team enough to assign a reporter to – oh, I don’t know – ACTUALLY FREAKING REPORT!?!?! 

The Edmonton article is here and you can read a delightful story about Cam Fowler and Scotty here, also from the Edmonton Journal.