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Sunday Morning Hangover: Reacting to the Anaheim Ducks’ Latest Comeback

By Richard Spalding

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Could the Stanley Cup Playoffs be any more exciting?  Not for fans of the Anaheim Ducks!

Anyone else STILL amped up over the Anaheim Ducks’ latest comeback win?

Of course you are!

The Ducks took a 2-0 lead in their first round match-up against the Winnipeg Jets thanks to their 2-1 victory last night, putting them comfortably in the driver’s seat as they head to the hostile MTS Centre.

Anaheim continues to take its fans on a roller coaster ride, which can be summarized a little bit like this:

First Period: Man, we’ve come out of the gates hot tonight!  Too bad we cannot score a goal.

Second Period: Holy **** we’re a dumpster fire right now.  How does this happen, every single night?

Early Third Period: Comeback time!  We got this!

Mid-Third Period: We don’t got this.

Seconds Later: It’s a game again, baby!

End of Third Period: HOLY **** DUCKS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep – sounds about right.  The life of an Anaheim Ducks fan right there!  Here are a few of my random thoughts this morning:

 Damn, this series is a war.  Advantage, Anaheim.

There were 81 hits recorded last night, with Anaheim tallying 48, many of the teeth-rattling variety.   When the game first started, I was a bit concerned that the Ducks were spending too much time finding a body to hit; I thought it might take the focus away from, you know, actually trying to put the puck in the back of the net.

Fans of the Ducks have spent too many postseason watching head coach Bruce Boudreau get suckered into making changes that force the Ducks to adjust to the other team’s style, when the team really should be trying to impose its will on the opponent.  Turning the series against the Jets into a live-action version of NHL 15 seemed like a mistake to me, at first, but come the third period, the Ducks’ physical play on the boards and behind the net was creating turnovers and causing the Jets to lose track of some of Anaheim’s forwards.

Everyone thought the Jets might be able to disrupt Anaheim’s attack using sheer brute strength, but so far, it’s been the Ducks who have benefited the most from the series’ physicality.  I would like to see Anaheim play a bit smarter – avoid the stupid penalties, right Ryan Kesler? – but the way things are going, the Jets have to be disappointed to discover they are being out-muscled so far.

Clayton Stoner Saved the Game!  After Possibly Losing It!

I’ll keep this short and sweet, since I know Stoner is on the poop list of many Ducks’ fans.  Regardless, with the Ducks already down 1-0 in the third, Frederick Andersen was on the ice, out of the play, with a big, juicy rebound right in front of the net.  All that was needed was a slight redirect from a Jets player – was it Andrew Ladd in front of the net?  I forget – and it would have been 2-0 Jets, momentum, the visiting team.

And then Stoner managed to get just enough of his stick out there to redirect the puck wide, and Anaheim was still in the game.

Was it Stoner’s fault that there was a Jets player open in front of the net like that in the first place?  Maybe, maybe not.  Does one play change a lot of people’s minds about whether James Wisniewski should be playing, instead of Stoner?  Probably not.

But you cannot deny the fact that Stoner’s last-second effort probably saved the game for the Ducks.  Just food for thought.

THIS TEAM IS A HEART-ATTACK TO WATCH!

Watch the rest of these playoffs at your own risk, since the Ducks are going to put us on the edge of our seats each and every game.  The good news is, every team they play will always be afraid of the comeback they know is coming.  It’s a nice mental edge the Ducks have over their opponents . . . but it’s going to put me in the cardiac arrest unit of my nearby hospital, I’m convinced.

That’s all from me for now – I’m exhausted all over again!  Share your thoughts and randomness in the comments below, if you like!

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