Upon Further Review – Four Issues the Anaheim Ducks Must Address

The Anaheim Ducks lost 3-0 last night in their series opener with San Jose. After a night to think things over there are some issues that they need to address.

I’ve been very upfront about myself and my hockey/journalism beliefs. I don’t do recaps. Why? Anyone who cares about the Anaheim Ducks already knows what happened. Unless something is really bothering me, I don’t write immediate game summaries/reactions either. My reasoning is different here. Like 99.99% of sports fans, tend to be a bit rash in the heat of the moment. Through experience, I’ve found I can be more insightful after sleeping on it overnight.

There is plenty to say about last night’s game one debacle. So, upon further review, there are some points that need to be addressed.

Some Good

• John Gibson is back. The score could have been much worse had a mere mortal been tending the Ducks goal.
• Andy Welinski has a nice slap shot from the point. He’s also not intimidated by the situation despite playing only seven NHL games before yesterday.
• There were some good scoring chances they couldn’t convert due to an outstanding performance from San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones. If the Ducks can keep getting good looks at Jones, they will eventually beat him.

Now we get to the problems.

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Kane

Evander Kane’s feel good, “I’m just happy to be in the playoffs after playing 574 games with crappy teams” schtick wore thin real quick last night. I understand how he scored during an SJS five on three power play. In the back of my mind, I almost expected it to happen. I wasn’t happy, but I can live with it.

What I have a serious issue with, is him getting in one-on-one on John Gibson. The Ducks made a sloppy change, lost the puck and Kane broke into the zone with Pavelski. Someone has to man up on Kane when he’s on the ice. Kesler is a good matchup on “Little Joe,” but Cogliano and/or Silfverberg aren’t the right guys to play Kane. Coach Randy Carlyle might want to go with Nick Ritchie, JT Brown or Derek Grant for that assignment.

Penalties

Your attention please, the Anaheim Ducks take too many penalties. This is a recording. By this point, their penchant for taking penalties isn’t a surprise to anyone. Not the fans, not the opposition and certainly not the referees.

There are good penalties and bad penalties. It’s hard to justify any of the penalties the Ducks took last night as good penalties. The Ducks succeeded in two things by taking so many penalties. First, they took themselves out of the game. With all due respect to Cogliano, it’s hard to score when your team is a man short. Second, the referees will be keeping a close eye on Anaheim in game two. They won’t get away with much on Saturday.

Puck Entry

Cam Fowler‘s absence from the lineup is most notable when the Ducks are in transition from defense to offense. Last night, they simply couldn’t get the puck cleanly into the attacking zone. Weather skating the puck in or playing dump and chase, it always seemed like there was a white jersey around to break up the play.

Even when Anaheim was on the power play, they hard time moving past the San Jose blueline. In addition, how in the heck does a team go offsides when they are short-handed? Going forward Anaheim must do a better job gaining the offensive zone.

Protection

It was obvious, that part of SJS’ strategy was to come right at Gibson. Anaheim can’t let their opponents charge the crease. Going back to an earlier point, knocking the snot out of someone making contact with your goalie is a “good” penalty. Additionally, if San Jose wants to continue with this strategy then Jones must be fair game at the other end.

I’m not advocating going after the San Jose goalie for kicks. It’s like when a pitcher hits a batter in retaliation after the other team did something to one of his players earlier. They must, however, send a clear message that John Gibson will not be physically harassed.