One Last Hurrah For Anaheim Ducks versus Minnesota

The Anaheim Ducks will be playing the Minnesota Wild for the third and final time in the regular season tonight.

In the two meetings prior, Minnesota nabbed all four points.

This game will be the final game of the six-game, 14-day road trip.

Puck drop is on at 5 P.M. Pacific on Prime Ticket and AM 830 KLAA.

Anaheim Ducks (29-18-10, 68 points)

Rest needed:

In four of the last five games, John Gibson has been in net for the Anaheim Ducks.

In those four decisions, Anaheim was able to get the only win of the road trip.

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And with Bruce Boudreau motivated to keep the momentum going versus his former team, should  Anaheim switch it up?

The Anaheim Ducks are going to be a play-off team and you need your starting goaltender to be fresh during that time.

And though we may be a few months out of the post-season, it is smart to take it easy and give Jonathan Bernier the start tonight.

He did start the last meeting versus Minnesota few weeks ago, giving up four goals.

But had a .925 save % overall and a 1.50 GAA in the month of January. He builded on that with a 35-save performance versus Tampa Bay two games ago.

But those are just my two cents.

Jak’ em sock em:

For the most part, the trade that sent Jakob Silfverberg to Anaheim in the Bobby Ryan deal, dust has settled.

Didn’t know it at the time but what a steal. We now have a player that plays top line minutes and production for just $3.75 million for the next three years.

Silfverberg has seven points in his last six games as a 26-year-old fifth year pro.

Minnesota Wild (37-12-6, 80 points)

¡Ay, caramba!:

Matt Dumba will not play in tonight’s contest after suffering a lower body injury last Friday.

He missed Sunday’s game versus Detroit and didn’t practice with the team on Monday.

Minnesota will miss his presence as he takes much of their defensive load, averaging 20 minutes a night which is third amongst all skaters.

Dumba has seven goals and 17 assists in 54 games played.

Par down:

What is going on with Zach Parise?

He is having the lowest shooting percentage in a full season of his career at a 9% clip.

Since coming to Minnesota from New Jersey, his role with the team has changed.

His minutes are dipping and he is on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Jason Pominville.

Not a good sign when he’s locked up until 2025 when he’s a 40 year old getting paid $7.5 million each year.

Handing out long-term contracts for ludicrous amounts of money do not make sense to me. In any sport.

Take baseball for example: Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels gets a yearly average pay day of $24 million.

He is on year six of his 10-year, $240 million contract.

Next: The Jersey Effect Theory

Don’t get me wrong, Both guys mentioned are great guys and the fans love them. But blindly throwing money at people who have a lot of mileage on them is a waste.