Christmas came early for the Ducks last night with presents galore: Corey Perry’s first hat trick, Getzy roaring back on his game, Big Bob scoring with Saku’s kid brother’s stick and a partridge in a pear tree.
The Ducks jumped out to an early lead when Niklas Backstrom (who apparently was having difficulty discerning black from white), played the puck from behind the net directly to Bobby Ryan who thoughtfully sent the biscuit to Corey Perry for a one-timer.
Three minutes and change into the first and the “uh-ohs” began when Andreas Lilja got 2 minutes for holding. The Ducks managed to kill the penalty, but Minnesota capitalized on yet another sloppy giveaway at six and a half and the score was tied 1-1.
Fortunately, as if he heard our silent pleas for not another shootout, thirty seconds later Ryan Getzlaf made it 2-1 while Bobby took a couple of Minnies out of action for a few moments.
Early in the second, the Ducks were handed a 5 on 3 (hooking and too many men) and Getzlaf looked like he was well on his well to hat-land.
At 9:49 though, the score is 3-2 when Minnesota also scores a power play (Sbisa, slashing) goal. As Anaheim’s official blogger so blithely put it, “Knock it off, Ducks.”
But we needn’t have worried for the hockey gods did smile upon Corey Perry once again and did grant him a boon of potent efficacy. Five minutes later, Perry gets hooked from behind by Cam Barker, makes good on the penalty shot and the score’s 4-2. The Ponda starts buzzing about the possibility of double hat tricks.
At about 17 minutes, there’s a scramble in front of the Wild net. Mikko Koivu loses his stick and decides he’ll just take Bobby Ryan’s right out of his mitts. Play continues, there’s no whistle. Bobby throws up his hands, waiting for the call that doesn’t come. Never a quitter and knowing he doesn’t have time to skate all the way back to the bench for fresh lumber, he dives into the scrum for the puck, trying to kick it out from under all those Minnie sticks. Miettinen recognizes his teammate’s stick laying on the ice and begins steering it toward Mikko…but it winds up right at Bobby’s feet, so he picks up the lefty and when the puck finally emerges, it goes to Getzy, who gets it to Visnovsky, who hits Lydman for the shot that rebounds off Backstrom right to Ryan, who dumps it easily into the empty net. Ryan brandishes the stick mockingly at the enemy, who are clearly not pleased and Havlat complains at the Ref who says he doesn’t know of any rule that states you can’t score a goal with an opponent’s stick. The score’s 5-2 and the R.P.G. line all have goals.
We get a little scare when Perry takes a pretty good whack to the face from Nick Schultz, but when he skates off under his own power with not too much blood oozing, chatting and relaxing ensues and we viewers freshen our drinks and nibbly bibblies and silently pray the Ducks don’t blow this lead.
The announcers opine Perry won’t return for the third as he probably needs stitches, but – true to the toughness quotient of hockey players – there’s Perry sat on the bench with a tiny little bit of medical tape holding his cheek together. He applies the biggest, sloppiest ice pack I’ve ever seen occasionally and one announcer jokes he can see Perry’s face swelling even as they watch.
Oh, and one other teenie, tiny, infinitesimal occurance at 15:47…COREY PERRY SCORES HIS FIRST NHL HAT TRICK!!!!!
Score’s 6-2 and it stays that way.
The Ducks proved they can fight back in the face of adversity and adjusted well to the challenge of having both Finns out on the same night (Selanne nagging groin {don’t snigger} and Koivu with the flu). Beginning today, the Ducks will be on the road for the rest of the month facing the Caps, Islanders, ‘Canes, Bruins, Sabres, Kings and ‘Yotes. Back at the Ponda on the 31st facing the Flyers.
The new Bobby Ryan promo has been posted. It’s cute, but I still think the George Parros ad is the funniest.