You cannot win them all, and even though the Ducks won two out of three meetings with the Dallas Stars, the final meeting was not as successful as the first two.   A 3-1 loss to the Stars had errors, whoops, and some missing personnel who might have helped out.

The most noticeable absence was the captain, Ryan Getzlaf, who suffered a right leg injury on Wednesday.  Although Getzlaf came back to the ice after tweaking his leg and scored a goal, he has not been seen since.

"It’s day-to-day with him," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "We’re going to see how he is at practice. I know no one wants to play as much as Ryan, but I think at this stage we want to be 100%. We don’t want anything to linger on. As big a game as we think this one is on Sunday, we want to make sure Ryan is ready before he goes in."

The Ducks were missing more than their captain.  Jonas Hiller was ill and missed the morning skate.  It was bad enough for the Ducks to call up Igor Bobkov from Norfolk.  However, as it happened in Minnesota, the Ducks still signed a back up to the back up.   This time it was Rob Laurie, who at 42 years old had seen more of the Honda Center than most.  Laurie was a goaltender for the Anaheim Bullfrogs back when roller hockey was the thing.  He even played in the first professional event held at the Honda Center, way back in 1993. 

Laurie got 3:53 on the bench (before Bobkov was ready to go), a jersey with his name on it, and $500 for his single NHL game career.  He not only spent time in the roller hockey league, but also played ice hockey as well, primarily with ECHL and AHL teams.  All in all, a good night for Laurie.

The rest of the Ducks?  Not so good.

Lane MacDermid scored for the second game in a row against the Ducks at 9:03 of the first period.  Anaheim was getting great chances against Kari Lehtonen and then on the next shift, the puck went in behind Viktor Fasth. 

The lead lasted a whopping :18 seconds before Andrew Cogliano roofed his shot to tie up the game.   The Ducks never got any closer.

Kyle Palmieri got a high stick  from MacDermid, which led to his linemate, Emerson Etem, picking a fight with Antoine Roussel.  Etem was impressive in his first official bout, throwing plenty of punches and giving the fans and teammates energy for the power play to come.

That was when the wind sucked out of their sails.  Fasth made an egregious error and was caught out of the net.  Eric Nystrom had no problem putting the puck in the empty net to give Dallas a shorthanded goal at 13:54 and the lead.

"They were clearing the puck out of their zone, and obviously I misread the speed of the puck," said Fasth.  "Or maybe I overestimated my skating ability.  No, you know it was a bad decision by me. I've got to learn from it and do it a different way next time."

Then late in the period Alex Chiasson got his first NHL goal in only his second game at 19:12.  3-1 Dallas and it never changed the rest of the game.

The Ducks had their chances, but just could not convert.

How much did they miss Getzlaf?

"I think everywhere – from leadership in the room to the power play, for sure – to the line stabilities," Boudreau said. "He's a huge part of our team. But we should be good enough.  We've got to get better if we're going to be one of the top teams."

The Ducks now get a chance to get better and rebound against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.  The Kings will be on the second of back to back games, having played the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.  Then in a weird twist, Edmonton will have a day of rest before playing Anaheim on Monday as the Ducks finish off back to back games. 

In part two of a three part mini-series, the Ducks had another decisive victory over the Dallas Stars.  This time it was a 5-2 victory at home, but even though it was the same uniforms, there were a lot of different players on the Dallas side of things.   The trade deadline has a way of doing that.

Since Anaheim had played Dallas on Monday, the Stars had traded away five forwards, including Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy.  The spots were filled with minor league call ups, who were more than happy and willing to get a chance to play.

The Ducks stayed pat, for the most part, making only a couple of trade deadline moves.  Veteran center, Matthew Lombardi, was acquired from Phoenix in exchange from little used Brandon McMillan.  Lombardi adds depth down the middle, something that will help alleviate the bulk of center duties that currently fall on captain Ryan Getzlaf.

Speaking of Getzlaf, there is a reason he is the captain and why he is having one heck of a year.  He earned the first star of the game on Wednesday for many reasons. 

A brilliant pass to newcomer Radek Dvorak resulted in Dvorak's first goal as a Duck at 11:44 of the first period. 

"Beautiful," said Dvorak. "He's one of the best passers in the League. He sees the ice very well. As soon as I see him with the puck I just try to get open, and the puck landed up on my stick. It was an easy tap-in for me."

Getzlaf also assisted on Teemu Selanne's power play goal at 11:33 of the second period.  It was the first power play opportunity in the game for either team, but Selanne made it look easy.  Then again, the Dallas netminder, Kari Lehtonen, is a fellow Finn and Selanne would know his weaknesses.  On the other hand, Selanne makes a lot of goalies look silly, Finnish or not.

Kyle Palmieri's goal at 16:42 gave the Ducks a commanding 3-0 lead, but they needed it when things got a little scary for Anaheim. 

In the first shift of the third period, Getzlaf accidentally stepped on his stick and tweaked his right leg as he fell awkwardly to the ice.  Getzlaf was clearly hobbled and went to the locker room right away.  Talk about an "oh no" moment. 

With the Ducks a little off focus, Dallas took advantage and Erik Cole finally broke Viktor Fasth's shutout at 2:48 to put the Stars on the board.

Fortunately Getzlaf was able to shake things off enough to return to the bench around the 5:30 minute mark into the period.   Goal number 150 came for the captain at 10:30 to give the Ducks a 4-2 lead.

"He scored the goal and I said that's enough," said coach Bruce Boudreau, who then proceeded to send his captain back into the dressing room to get iced and treated.

Dallas made it 4-2 when the Ducks let down and got a little sloppy.  Lane MacDermid, acquired from Boston in the Jagr trade, got his first NHL goal at 18:36 and gave Dallas a little more life. 

With Lehtonen pulled, Dallas made a go of it, but Andrew Cogliano put it away for good with just :03.8 seconds remaining.  Cogliano's shot appeared to go wide and then it chipped a little on the ice and veered into the net instead. 

Getzlaf is still expected to play on Friday in the final episode against the Stars.  Matt Beleskey is more questionable, having taken a high stick to the eye in the third period on Wednesday.  Even though the Ducks have won the first two, they won't be sitting back.

"Teams that make trades and do the sell-off are so tough to play down the stretch," commented Boudreau. "Experience tells me when you bring in a lot of new guys, young guys especially, they play with so much energy.  To beat any team three times in a row is difficult, but we're going to try."

In other notes:  Goaltender Jeff Deslauriers was sent to the Minnesota Wild for future considerations in the other trade deadline activity by the Ducks.

The Ducks shut out the Dallas Stars, 4-0 on Monday night, no fooling.   It was about time they got back to doing the things they had been doing well all season.  For the past week or two, it seemed like they had forgotten all the things that made them successful early on.

Somewhere, the light switched back on and so did the scoring.

"We shot," said Corey Perry simply.  "You shoot the puck, you're going to get chances.  We've been shooting, but we haven't been getting those second chances and opportunities.  That's what makes the difference."

Both Anaheim and Dallas were tired teams, having played the night before.  The Ducks lost to Columbus in overtime and Dallas had lost to the Kings in regulation.   Both teams wanted to erase the previous game results.

There was no scoring in the first period, thanks to excellent goaltending from Viktor Fasth and Kari Lehtonen.  The Ducks and the Stars had quality scoring chances that should have gone in the net, but did not. 

Instead, the scoring did not get going until the second period.  In a five minute opening of the proverbial ketchup bottle, the Ducks scored three times and never looked back.

Bobby Ryan started things off at 10:13 with Perry adding on at 12:52.  Matt Beleskey added one more for good measure at 15:02. 

Fasth stopped all 26 shots for the shutout, even when hammered by the Stars in the third period. 

"He made big saves," praised coach Bruce Boudreau.  " We weren't perfect tonight. We had breakdowns and I think all Viktor did was frustrate that team.  That was the big thing -- we didn't want them to get one because we thought that would really energize them and Viktor held the door and did that, especially at the end of the first, which would have given them a 1-0 lead going into the second and it might have been a whole different story."

Pulling Lehtonen for the extra attacker when down by three goals was a gutsy move by the Stars coach, Glen Gulutzan.   It was to no avail as Teemu Selanne merely added one more to the tally at 19:32 of the third period.

The Ducks get to see Dallas two more times this week, both of them at home in this mini series between the two teams. 

Despite only 48 hours between games, the Stars will have a different look on Wednesday night.  Jaromir Jagr was traded to the Boston Bruins and Derek Roy was sent packing to Vancouver. 

What needs to remain the same is the effort against the Stars.  If the Ducks can continue the positives, they will continue to be successful.

No rest for the weary or wicked.  This season has been all about play a game, get it behind you, quick recovery for the next one.  No time to linger on what ifs or celebrations. 

Beat the Chicago Blackhawks for the third time this season on Friday?  Yippee.  Now go play Columbus on Sunday. 

While the Ducks avoided the slump that followed their last game against Chicago, they still did not get the results they wanted. 

It would have been easy to say Columbus would be an easier win just a short time ago, but the Blue Jackets have found a way to turn things around and win a lot of games.  Their efforts, including the 2-1 overtime defeat of the Ducks, has rewarded them with the 8th playoff spot in the west (for now, anyway).

Both teams were pretty equal early on, with fatigue showing on both sides.  There was no scoring until Derrick Brassard got a puck past Jonas Hiller at 9:53 of the second period.

Emerson Etem tied up the game at 5:55 of the third period.  It was the only shot that Sergei Bobrovsky allowed, which is saying a lot, because he had to make 16 saves in the third period alone.  The Ducks outshot the Blue Jackets 30 - 18 and came away with just one point for their late efforts.

"You obviously don't like the result," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "I'm frustrated when you do play well. You keep pushing and pushing and we're missing opportunities. And you can tell we got good chances. But we're missing opportunities that guys shouldn't be missing. They're right in front of the net."

Despite the hard work from the third period and into the extra frame in overtime, the Blue Jackets prevailed.  Mark Letestu earned the extra point for Columbus with just one minute remaining before they would head to a shootout. 

Anaheim now has to turn it around quickly and prepare for Dallas, a team they will play three times this week.  The first is in Texas on Monday evening, followed by two home games in Anaheim on Wednesday and Friday this week.  Another mini playoff prep and those six points will feel like 12 when you are playing a team in your division.

Even if Anaheim has a hefty lead in the Pacific Division, Dallas is still vying for a playoff spot.  They are in the middle of six teams, from 8th to 13th, that are separated by a mere three points.   The Ducks will need a full 60 minute effort if they want to keep that comfortable cushion.

In other notes:  The Ducks made a minor league trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.  Anaheim acquired Harry Zolnierczyk in exchange for Jay Rosehill.     Zolnierczyk, 25, will report to the Ducks AHL affiliate in Norfolk.

 

This is not going to be your usual game recap and analysis.  Yes, the Anaheim Ducks finally righted their sinking ship by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in regulation.  All season long the Ducks have bested the Blackhawks.

But in the end, does the game really matter?  Or are there other things that matter more? 

Being a sports fan means you are a little bipolar.  You are really up and elated when your team in winning.  Conversely, you are really low and depressed when your team gets into a losing funk.   It is easy to get caught up in it and let it take over your sensibilities.  It isn't just hockey.  They don't call it March Madness for nothing.

However, today is a time to step back, take a breath, and say, is it really all that big a deal in the broad picture of things?

I will admit that I did not watch the hockey game.  My life is usually scheduled around games.  Not yesterday.   I did not even care that I missed it. 

That had nothing to do with how the Ducks had been playing.  It had to do with the fact that I was in Mexico for a funeral for an 8 year old child.

Our church has an education sponsorship program in Mexico.  Leyla was one of the children in the program - we have over 500 children that we sponsor from kindergarten to university.   

Two weeks ago Leyla was a healthy, active, bubbly joy of a child, running around happily.  Today she was buried after suffering complications from meningitis. 

You think it is awful when your team is on a four game losing streak and playing horribly?  Think again.

That is a minor annoyance and years from now, really will not matter one iota.  The loss of a precious child is another matter. 

To see two older brothers, utterly grief stricken at the loss of their sister, a mother distraught beyond imagination, a father who never left his only daughter's side in the hospital in a week and a half except once to go get a shower.  Those are images that are forever seared in your memory. 

Those are the ones that matter.  Not whether or not your team wins or loses. 

So hug your loved ones, don't take them for granted, and the next time your team has its ups and downs, take a breath and no that in the end, there are other things far more important and worthwhile to fret about.

It is a good thing the Ducks have built a nice cushion in the Pacific Division, because right now, they are tanking.  Bad.

After a marvelous and unexpected start to the season that has included two defeats of Chicago, the number one team in the NHL, Anaheim has now managed to string together a four game losing streak that does not look pretty. 

Really?  This is the same team that defeated Chicago a week ago in regulation?  Apparently the Blackhawks exercised some bad mojo on the Ducks for revenge. 

The latest drubbing came from the San Jose Sharks, who happily did in the Ducks in the first three minutes of the game.  The Sharks showed up in the 4-0 loss.  The Ducks?  Not sure where they were.

Joe Pavelski scored one minute into the game and that was really all they needed.  Anaheim should have conceded then and there.  Instead, Ducks fans had to painfully sit through the rest of the 59 minutes that added to the spanking.

Patrick Marleau made it 2-0 at 4:52.  Brent Burns added a power play marker at 9:20.  Tommy Wingels put the final nail in the coffin at 6:44 of the third period while they were short-handed.  Ouch, ouch, and boy that hurts.

Antti Niemi stopped 22 shots for the victory.  Jonas Hiller stopped 25 shots and did not get much support from his teammates.

"We have to find the crux of the problem of our starts sooner or later because every team in the NHNL sees this and will say, 'Get on them in the first five minutes, they're never ready,' " said coach Bruce Boudreau.

Hiller agreed.

"We're just not ready first.  We talk about it and don't do it.  We've got to change something....Right now we want to do too much.  We don't trust each other that much that everybody's doing his job.  Everybody wants to do the other guys' job too.  We start running around all over the place.  That's something we need to look at."

Guess what?  They have less than 48 hours to look at it and rectify the problem before they meet up with Chicago again.  Do you think Chicago might be just a little motivated to exact a little revenge on Anaheim on Friday night?  You betcha.  

If the Ducks are not ready for that, they should hide their little duckie tails between their legs and vanish somewhere.

"It just has to stop." said Boudreau.  "This has to stop."

From your lips to God's ears, Bruce.

Good things usually keep snowballing into more good things.  Bad things have a way of doing the same thing, but in the wrong direction.  The Ducks are currently rolling downhill with three losses in a row, their most recent coming at the hands of the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.

As if consecutive losses to the Detroit Red Wings were not enough, Anaheim continued their current trend of not sticking to their game plan and not showing up until later in the game when facing the Sharks.   Most of the season the Ducks have worked hard, been patient, stuck to the game plan and most importantly had the confidence that they can win, no matter the score.   They need to get that back if they want to correct the course they are currently on.

Is fatigue finally catching up?  Possibly, but no more than other teams also enduring the shortened and compressed season.

"No excuses," said Corey Perry.  "Everyone's got short days.  It's a little adversity we've got to deal with."

At least the game ended on a high note for the Ducks, despite the 5-3 final score.   Anaheim needs to take that kind of effort and put it in the full 60 minutes when they meet San Jose again on Wednesday up at the Shark Tank.

The Ducks have fallen behind before, but when you spot a team three goals, you are digging yourself a huge hole.

Brent Burns scored at 5:46 of the first period, followed by Joe Pavelski at 7:10.  Mart Havlat's goal :34 seconds into the second period finally pushed a button the Ducks, who responded.

Emerson Etem put the Ducks on the board at 8:16 of the middle frame and Francois Beauchemin brought them within one goal :58 seconds into the third period. 

The Sharks thought they had their fourth goal on the power play at 7:56 from Logan Couture.  Couture had batted the puck out of the air, and it was ruled no goal on the ice because it was assumed to be over the crossbar in height.  Because the long review proved inconclusive, it remained no goal. 

Not to worry.  James Sheppard, who had not scored since December 2009, did add the game winning goal at 10:04.

Perry, whose ill-timed turnover led to Pavelski's goal in the first period, redeemed himself with a goal of his own at 18:20.  

With Viktor Fasth vacating the net, the Ducks hoped to get the equalizer and push the game into overtime.  Antti Niemi would not budge and Dan Boyle put in the empty netter at 19:32 to seal the deal for San Jose.

"We obviously didn’t play our game for the first period and a half," said Perry. "We didn’t start well and it eventually caught up to us."

The Ducks had an opportunity to redeem themselves against Detroit when they played two games in a row against them.  They failed in that attempt.   Anaheim does not want to fail on this opportunity for redemption and start off a four game road trip on a sour note.  Worse, they don't want a four game losing streak.

"We’ve got to just get a little bit of a sense of urgency back in our game," said Sheldon Souray. "We’re starting these games possibly thinking it’s going to be an easy night. We’ve got to understand that we’ve played well all year to put ourselves in the position that other teams are going to be ready for us."

Time to be ready for them, instead.

In an effort to add a little more veteran punch (and perhaps a boost to the penalty killing) the Ducks have signed right wing Radek Dvorak to a one-year contract.  The contract is pro-rated at $675,000.

Dvorak, 36, has been playing in Davos, Switzerland, all year.  He is the veteran of 1,191 NHL games with Florida, the New York Rangers, Edmonton, St. Louis, Atlanta and Dallas. He has 219 goals and 577 points.

Dvorak did clear waivers and now he is waiting for his work visa before he can play any games in a Ducks uniform.

"I'm so glad it was Anaheim," said Dvorak, who skated on Monday morning.  "It's nice to be back in the NHL, for sure. You always have high expectations and this team has that.  They're playing great. I've been watching them. It's been good so hopefully I can fit in and help."

Coach Bruce Boudreau was pleased to add Dvorak to the line up.

"He can still skate," said Boudreau. "He can still play. He's a good penalty-killer, which is something that we can use. We can never have enough of (that). So he's going to be a good advantage to our team."

Work visas can take a while, but hopefully his paperwork will be done by the time the Ducks play San Jose on Wednesday.

Wanting to bounce back from an awful game against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, the Ducks gave it a second go on Sunday.   The results were better, but still not enough to overcome Jimmy Howard's superb goaltending in the 2-1 loss.  It was the first time the Ducks have lost two in a row all season long.

As it was on Friday evening, the Ducks fell behind when Dan Cleary scored on the first power play of the game at 4:14. 

Former Duck, Drew Miller, made it 2-0 for Detroit when he stuck the puck through Jonas Hiller's five hole at 8:46 of the first period.  

The Ducks had moments where they played well and a late power play goal from Ryan Getzlaf in the second period put the Ducks back by a single goal.  Howard refused to let anything else in, making 33 saves to give the Red Wings the win. 

"We were all over them," commented Andrew Cogliano after the game. "We had a couple of shifts there where they were out there for maybe a minute-ten. It's just a matter of putting the puck in. You put so much in to get chances. There's a lot of different looks we had. It's just they didn't go in. You've got to give some credit to their (defensemen) and their goalie for sure."

In the final minutes of the third period, Getzlaf was called for tripping, a penalty he vehemantly opposed.  His protests earned him an unsportsmanlike penalty as well as a misconduct.  Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry also added misconducts for being equally vocal. 

Despite the advantage for the Red Wings, Cam Fowler had a beauty of a chance that could not have come any closer to tie up the game in the final second.   Close, but no cigar. 

The frustrated Ducks got to mull over their second loss in a row for a very brief time while looking to take on the San Jose Sharks the next day.

"That’s part of being professional," said Getzlaf.  "That’s the one benefit we have in the back-to-back games. We get to go right back at it tomorrow. The benefit we have is we’re heading in the right direction. We’re not going on a downward spiral. The other game we didn’t play very well. Tonight we played well, but we played just well enough to lose. Hopefully we’re on the incline and tomorrow night we can play well enough to win.”

There is a reason the Ducks had their home winning streak end at 13 games on Friday night in a 5-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.   Several reasons.

Anaheim, coming off an amazing high after beating the Chicago Blackhawks in regulation, just could not find that same energy and motivation against the Red Wings two days later.  Normally that is not a problem, considering the rivalry between the two teams.  

"To me that's an excuse," said coach Bruce Boudreau, who did not accept that possibility.  "I believe it's an excuse. I don't know why it would be a letdown game. You have a whole 24 hours in between and you're playing the Detroit Red Wings for crying out loud. I would be jacked up just so I didn't hear their fans cheers in our building. That's embarrassing enough."

Another very good reason the Ducks lost was Justin Abdelkader.   He proved to be a one man wrecking crew against Anaheim, earning his first ever hat trick and matching his goal production of last season in one fell swoop.

"Sometimes the puck will find you, or follow you, and maybe that was the case this game," said Abdelkader, who also had an assist on Johan Franzen's goal.   "We had a good team game. I'm just trying to do my part and pull ... as Pav (Datsyuk) would say, the piano, up and down the ice."

A piano might have gone in past Viktor Fasth, rather than the proverbial beach ball.  He got the start in net, but was not his sharpest.  After allowing three goals in 11 shots, Fasth was yanked and Jonas Hiller was in.    Hiller was not spectacular either, but then again, neither were the rest of his teammates.

"After the first goal they got, we were sort of dead in the water the rest of the game," said Boudreau.  "I thought the first 10 minutes, we were all over them. We weren't very good the last 50 minutes."

The Ducks did have moments.  It appeared that Emerson Etem had gotten his second goal at 6:45 of the first period, but it had bounced off his skate and into the net and was ruled no goal because of a kicking motion. 

Teemu Selanne did put the Ducks on the scoreboard at 11:31 with his second goal in as many games after having a mini scoring drought.  It was the only goal the Ducks would officially get past Jimmy Howard, who made 33 saves.

After that, it was the Abdelkader show.    He scored at 13:36 of the first period and Datsyuk added a power play marker at 14:59.   In the second period Abdelkader put the puck in the net at 3:06 and 12:46 to give the Red Wings an insurmountable lead. 

The Ducks barely put up a fuss about it, unlike their usual "we can come back from anything" demeanor.  

The only fight they really showed was captain Ryan Getzlaf risking his $8 million hands against Jonathan Ericsson at the end of the second period and Bobby Ryan in a rare tilt with Brendan Smith.

To make matters worse, Etem put the puck in the net himself at 15:17 of the third period, as if Detroit needed any help.  Franzen got credit for the goal.

All in all, not a great night for the Ducks, who have been pretty good for most of the season.

"All good things have to come to an end eventually," commented Cam Fowler. "I think we would have liked a little better effort if we were going to watch it disappear. That's why we get to come out Sunday and get back at it again."

The Ducks are fortunate to get an immediate re-do against Detroit on Sunday.   Not only will they have the opportunity to correct their errors and mistakes, but they will also have a chance to start a new home winning streak.