Even though the Ducks did not play nearly as well as they did against Detroit, they did well enough to get a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.   Getting plenty of offense helped earn Anaheim two more crucial points in the standings.

Of the five goals, three of them had Corey Perry's name on them.  Perry earned his fifth career hat trick and second this season.  Both hat tricks this season have come against the Columbus Blue Jackets.   Too bad the Ducks don't play them again this year. 

Perry started things going just :46 seconds into the game, putting the puck behind Steve Mason.  He extended the lead with his second of the game at 16:15 on the power play.

"It was important, especially because they played last night, to get a lead," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "When you get a lead, and they played last night, it's a little easier to make them quit."

The Blue Jackets might have played the night before, but they did not quit.

Wearing their third jerseys with the cannon on the front, they got to hear the cannon blow off a round when Fedor Tyutin got a power play goal at 17:41 to tighten things up again.

The Ducks had no problem extending the lead in the second period.  An early goal from Jason Blake at 1:36 gave Anaheim the two goal lead once again.  Bobby Ryan added another power play goal at 2:58 to make it 4-1.

A few minutes later, Lubomir Visnovsky got into a rare fight.   His last one?  Against Dustin Byfuglien while Visnovsky was a member of the Kings.  Visnovsky not only got the fighting major, but also an extra two minutes for roughing with Derick Brassard.  To top it off, he get a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down.

"I don't tie up the jersey because I never think I'm going to fight," said Visnovsky.  "Maybe I start to tie it up."

Because he did not tie down the jersey, the Ducks were without Visnovsky's services for the remainder of the game.  But they managed without him.

When given their third power play of the night, the Ducks made it 3 for 3 with the man advantage and Perry got another hat trick at 12:38.  Perhaps Columbus should stay out of the penalty box?

"It's just the way it bounces, I guess," Perry said. "I had a lot of shots (11 out of the Ducks 35 total). They were bound to find a way in. I played with a couple good linemates tonight, too. They were finding me. We had a lot of chances toget

Aaron Johnson made it 5-2 with under a minute to go in the second period.    When Antoine Vermette scored on the power play at 5:27 of the third period, it was time to be a little nervous for the Ducks. 

Jonas Hiller stood fast and stopped everything else and the Ducks held on for the win and the two points. 

"It was a sloppy game," Boudreau said. "I told them to never complain about winning a game. If we want to continue to win on this trip we have to get more like we played in Detroit rather than (how) we played here."

Next opportunity will be back to back games on Tuesday against Minnesota and Wednesday against Pittsburgh.  The Ducks are only five points behind Minnesota in the standings, so two points will be critical. 

The Ducks came about as close as they could get to a rare win at the Joe Louis Arena on Friday night.  The Red Wings hung on and prevailed 2-1 in a shootout.  It has been four years since their last regular season win in Detroit but getting a point for their efforts was almost as rewarding as getting two points.  Almost.

The last time the Ducks played in Detroit it was November.  Detroit won, handily, and they have not lost at home since then.  19 games and counting. 

Too bad Anaheim did not pull off the miracle victory to ruin their streak.

It sure started off miraculous.  The Red Wings have been without their All Star goaltender, Jimmy Howard, who is out with a broken finger.  Instead of Ty Conklin, who was supposed to be back up, Joey MacDonald has won the starting post and Conklin is still warming the bench during games.   Surely the Ducks would have better luck getting pucks past the third string guy?

George Parros scored his first goal of the season with a tip in at 16:17 of the first period.  That clearly qualifies as miraculous, since Parros has not scored since December 2010.  And the Ducks actually had a 1-0 lead, in Detroit. 

So much for miracles.  With plenty of traffic in front of Jonas Hiller, Justin Abdelkader got a little touch on the puck to redirect it behind him at 18:42. 

The 1-1 score stayed the same for the remainder of the game. 

Power plays?  Plenty of them, but the Ducks could not get anything in the net.  They hit posts, they narrowly missed wide open nets, but nothing on seven opportunities. 

"We think we deserved a better fate," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "But when you go 0 for 7 on the power play, even if you get three-four good looks, you don't expect to win."

The Red Wings met a similar fate at the other end of the ice, so the game had to go to overtime.  Maybe with 4 on 4 hockey there would be more room, more chances?  Heck, with penalties called, there was 3 on 3 hockey.

Cam Fowler came oh so very very close to getting the Ducks the extra point at 3:20 of overtime.  Gaping net.  Sprawling MacDonald.  Puck hit the goal post.

The Ducks' Cam Fowler hit the goal post on a breakaway with 1:40 left in overtime and the teams playing three on three.

"I'm not sure if he [MacDonald] got his glove on it but I saw it hit the post," said Fowler, still in disbelief that the puck did not go in. "It would have been such a great goal to score."

Instead, the game continued and went to a shootout.  You would think that Hiller, who has much more experience in the shootout than MacDonald, would have the better chance at prevailing.   That was not the case.

Neither goaltender could stop Pavel Datsyuk or Teemu Selanne.  But Todd Bertuzzi was the deciding factor in the third round.  Bertuzzi, who skated with the speed of a little old lady driving in the slow lane, found his quick reflexes again right in front of Hiller, who could not stop the shot.

"Eighteen straight and you're in a shootout and you know you have three shooters [to face]," pondered MacDonald after the game.  "We scored.   Datsyuk got a nice one and when Bertuzzi got that one, it put a little more pressure on me. I didn't want to go into any extra shooters. I just tried to stay out and stay big and made the save."

Bobby Ryan was denied on the final attempt by Anaheim and the game was over.  Two points Detroit.  Their streak continues and Anaheim continues their winless streak in Detroit.   

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  In hockey games, the final score is all that matters. 

The Ducks now head to Columbus for game two of an eight game road trip.  One point at a time won't get them anywhere but a great pick at the draft in June.  They have to have two points on Sunday. 

Sometimes you have to fight for every single point in the NHL.  Some nights, you have to fight even harder.  The Ducks fought hard enough on Wednesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes to get a 3-2 overtime win.

There were no formal fights on the ice.  Not even roughing penalties.  But every shift was a battle for both sides in a well matched game between two teams languishing at the bottom of their respective conferences.

The Ducks had to come back twice from one goal deficits and then figure out how to prevail in overtime.  It was worth the effort.

"We didn’t want to go into the road trip on a losing note," said Corey Perry, who had the game winning goal. "Eight games is a long way. It can make or break our season here."

Tuomo Ruutu got a tip in at the end of the first period.  He had to take a couple whacks at the puck that was right in front of Jonas Hiller before he could lift it over the goaltender's shoulder and put it in the net at 17:57. 

In the second period, the Ducks were finally able to get something past Cam Ward.  Lubomir Visnovsky took a shot from the blue line and aimed it towards the traffic in front of the net.  Ward was prevented from getting a good look at it and Nick Bonino was able to redirect it at 12:48.  Game tied.

Late in the period Niklas Hagman had a great opportunity to give the Ducks their first lead, but instead of roofing the puck into the net, he hit the crossbar.  Sprawled defender.  Wide open net.   Fortunately he did not do that on Monday against Calgary in the shootout, or we might still be there at the Honda Center.

Carolina once again took the lead at 3:47 of the third period.  Eric Staal's goal is listed as "unassisted," but Rod Pelley could not have helped out more if he had put it in the net himself.  Staal was behind the net and trying to bank a shot off Pelley's skate.  Instead, Pelley kicked it and the puck managed to bounce off the back of Hiller's glove and into the net.  Weird goal for a weird game.

The lead did not remain for long.  At 5:11, Saku Koivu got his 10th goal of the year by banging home Luca Sbisa's rebound.  Ward was out of position and had no chance of stopping it. 

Ward stopped everything else for the remainder of the game, as did Hiller.  So for the third game in a row, the Ducks went to overtime. 

There were only three penalties called for the entire game, so it was no surprise when nothing was called in OT.  It should have been.  Perry tripped up Jussi Jokinen, although Perry threw up his arms in a "who me?  Not guilty" look at the refs.  He skated away hoping to avoid the consequences and instead picked up a loose puck and put it behind Ward to end the game at 2:14 of the extra period.

"They didn't blow the whistle so you keep playing," said Perry. "We've had calls against us all year, and maybe that's a turning point for us. We'll see."

Coach Bruce Boudreau was more succinct.

"Might have gotten a break," he said.

Needless to say, Carolina coach, Kirk Muller, was left shouting his own version of "ref you suck" at the non call, although Jokinen might have actually caught an edge as he was going around his own net.

Regardless, the outcome was that the Ducks won.  They are now 11-3-2 since the beginning of January but are still eight points out of a playoff spot. 

Much work will have to be done on this upcoming road trip that begins frighteningly in Detroit.  Why is Detroit so scary?  The Ducks haven't won there since......the ice age?  Maybe not quite that long, but close enough.  Getting a point out of the Joe Louis Arena is always a victory.  Anything more than that is parting of the Red Sea miraculous.  But the Red Sea has parted before. 

Eight games, 16 points. 

"We have a tremendous opportunity to make something big happen," said Koivu.

This will truly be what determines the rest of the season.  It starts Friday in Detroit.

 

With only 30 games left and the Ducks still languishing at 28th overall, every single game counts and every single point matters.   Two points have to be earned every single night.  Realistically, they won't be, but statistically, they have to be.

The Ducks earned two points against Calgary at home on Monday night in a 3-2 victory, but they did not do it the easy way.  It took eight rounds of the shootout to determine who would get the extra bonus point.   With the way both goaltenders were playing, it could have taken longer. 

Fortunately Niklas Hagman lifted the puck over a sprawling Miikka Kiprusoff to give the Ducks a chance.  Jonas Hiller then stopped Mikael Backlund, barely, to make sure the Ducks had the win.

"It's obviously a huge win for us," said Hagman.  "It's a goalie I've practiced a lot against.  Quite a bit.  I don't have that many moves.  He knows my go-to moves.  I wanted to come with good speed.  Luckily for me, he probably thought I'm going to go with my backhand." 

The last time the Ducks had that much of a nail biter in the shootout was a 13 round venture against Vancouver a couple of Halloween's ago. 

Poor Calgary can't buy a win in Anaheim.  The last time they won in Anaheim it was January 19, 2004.   Eight long years.  One year for each round of the shootout.

Kiprusoff will just have to wait one more game to get career win 300. 

Bobby Ryan got the scoring started with his 20th goal of the season at 15:52 of the first period.  Matt Beleskey then tipped in Sheldon Brookbank's shot nearly two minutes later at 17:51 to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead.    Brookbank hasn't had a goal in nearly three years (2008-2009 season), but at least he got the assist.

In the second period, a defensive breakdown by the Ducks allowed Alex Tanguay to put the Flames on the board at 4:41.   Anaheim had a great opportunity to restore the two goal lead a few minutes later with a long 5 on 3 power play.  They could not capitalize, despite spending nearly the entire 90 seconds in the Flames zone.  A couple of posts by Saku Koivu and some near misses kept the Ducks from scoring and gave Calgary a big boost.

"You can't get better chances than we had, better looks than we had," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "We just didn't put it in. Whether Kiprusoff was making great saves or we were hitting the post, I thought it  was a big turning point in the game, quite frankly. It sure gave them life."

With Luca Sbisa handed a five minute major penalty for an odd head to head hit on Tim Jackman, the Flames tied up the game at 6:15 of the third period.  Jarome Iginla got behind the defense and made his goal look easy.  The Ducks were fortunate that there were no other goals scored during the long five minutes.

Hiller kept them in the game and got them into overtime and held fast in the shootout.

"We had a couple of chances to win there," Kiprusoff said. "But it's not easy when their goalie makes big saves there. They had a good start, but I think the second period with our (score-tying) goal was huge. I thought we were able to push back. It's a good one point, but we had the chance to take two."

On the other hand, the Ducks needed those two points.  They will need two more on Wednesday against Carolina. 

On Wednesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets felt gypped out of overtime and a point in the NHL standings due to a clock issue at the Staples Center.  While the evidence is still being examined in the incidence and whether or not the Kings did or did not score in the final second of the game to win in regulation, there was no doubt about the results on Friday against the Ducks.

Anaheim should have capitalized on the lowly Blue Jackets, who were missing key parts of their defense due to injuries.  Instead, Columbus hung in there all game, legitimately took it to overtime and then finished off the Ducks in the extra time, 3-2. 

"It feels good, especially after what happened the last game in L.A.," said Derick Brassard, who had the game winning goal.  "We worked really hard and yesterday we had a day off. It's always tough to come to the West Coast and play some good teams. We just stuck with it."

The Ducks started the scoring early in the first period.  Teemu Selanne got his first of two goals at 1:46.   He had to battle with former Duck, Sami Pahlsson, but the old man won the battle and got the Ducks on the board.

The score held up until late in the second period.  Brassard had a juicy rebound that he put behind Jonas Hiller at 14:47.  Game tied.

But not for long.

Selanne restored the Ducks one goal lead at 16:52 on the power play.  That was goal number 655.    He is one away from tying Brendan Shanahan and three away from tying Jaromir Jagr in the battle of which European will end up with the most goals ever.

Unfortunately Selanne's second goal was not enough for the Ducks, and no one else was able to send a puck behind Curtis Sanford.   Maybe he should have gotten his gazillionth hat trick and won it for the Ducks.   With five power plays in the second period alone, the Ducks should have capitalized on those opportunities.

Instead, Jeff Carter tied up the game once more on a Columbus power play at 2:05 of the third period. 

Corey Perry came close to putting the Ducks back in the lead late in the game, but his shot pinged off the post and stayed out. 

Overtime it would be.

There were great chances at both ends of the ice.  Andrew Cogliano went whipping down to the Columbus end only to be denied.  Antoine Vermette came back the other way and Hiller made an incredible save to keep things going.  Bobby Ryan immediately sped off to the other end and was also denied by Sanford.  Both goaltenders were fabulous.

Then the awful happened.

Cam Fowler was stripped of the puck and the Blue Jackets had a 2 on 1 with Brassard and Rick Nash.  Brassard put the puck short side behind Hiller at 3:55.  Game over.

"I was trying to get in and create some offense down low," said a repentant Fowler.  "Saku (Koivu) made a good play to get it to me. I thought I had a little bit more time that I did … it's up to me to know my surroundings. I just have to make a better play. There is one minute left in the game. It was just too high risk. It was a mistake on my part.  I feel terrible."

So do Ducks fans, who know how vitally important every single point is for them at this juncture.  While they made up some ground in the month of January, things are not looking nearly as rosy for February. 

Saturday, the Ducks will lighten up for the fans and hold their Super Skills Showdown.  One can only hope the good feelings will carry over to Monday against Calgary. 

For a team that had a record January, the one blot was loss to the Dallas Stars before the All Star break.  Having won again in Phoenix the night before, you would have thought the Ducks could continue that momentum meeting up with the Stars once more. 

Nope.

Dallas did circles around the Ducks, who did not do well in the 6-2 loss.

The first question that comes to mind is why was Jonas Hiller in net for the second night in a row?  He looked tired, wasn't sharp and isn't that why you have a back up goaltender in the first place?  Jeff Deslauriers isn't there just to look pretty on the bench.  And even if he isn't the regular back up guy (Dan Ellis is out with a groin strain for a while), he still has NHL experience and can handle his own in net. 

Matt Beleskey got the scoring started at 5:14 of the first period.  His shot went off of Stephane Robidas' stick and lifted over the shoulder of Kari Lehtonen.  It was eerily like the only goal a week prior where Alex Goligoski's shot went off of Cam Fowler and into the net and proved to be the game winner. 

That was where the similarities ended.  After that goal, it was all Dallas. 

First it was Eric Nystrom at 13:56.  Then Vern Fiddler took advantage of a turnover to give Dallas the lead at 16:41.  Not done with turnovers, the Ducks handed it over again and Jamie Benn roofed a beauty of a shot behind Hiller at 17:50.  Benn looked like he was still competing in the accuracy competition at the All Star weekend, and certainly has healed from his emergency appendectomy. 

3-1 Ducks.  Game over.  Only there were two more periods to go.  And Hiller stayed in net. 

"Three bad plays," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "The first one we got outmuscled in front of our net. The third one was just a terrible giveaway. The second one … again, outmuscled and outworked at the blue line. I don't want to say those things happen because I don't want them to happen, but that's what happened. We got outmuscled and we lost the battles."

Lost the game, too.

Robidas added a power play goal at 7:14 of the second period.  Luca Sbisa, responsible for those ugly turnovers in the first period, redeemed himself slightly with a goal at 8:36 to make it 4-2.    That was as close as they came.

Sheldon Souray gave the Stars a three goal lead once again just :36 seconds into the third period.  Michael Ryder added the icing on the cake at 17:34.  If there were any Ducks faithful left who were hoping for a miracle, they could have headed to their cars and gone home.  There was nothing to see.

"I thought we played 12 really good games in a row," Boudreau said. "Tonight, we didn't. We stunk."

The Ducks now meet up with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday evening.  The Blue Jackets are the worst team in the NHL, and they will still be angry about getting gypped out of at least a point on Wednesday against the Kings.   The NHL is still investigating whether or not the goal scored by the Kings in the final second of the game should count or not.  There may or may not have been a final second.  If not, would the NHL award a point to Columbus and take one away from the Kings? 

For now, the Blue Jackets want to make sure they earn two in regulation.  So do the Ducks.   They might not be playoff contenders, but the game should be a good one, nonetheless.

There was no doubt about it.  It was Andrew Cogliano's night.   Hats off to him (literally) for helping the Ducks nearly single handedly to defeat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1. 

Although the Ducks lost their last game prior to the All Star break, they continued their winning ways in Phoenix to start the second half of the season off right. 

While playing so-so in the first period, Jonas Hiller played well enough to keep the Coyotes down to only one goal.  Ray Whitney tipped in Radim Vrbata's shot at 7:39 of the first.  Anaheim only had one goal to make up when they came out in the second period.

The third line of Cogliano, Matt Beleskey and Nick Bonino came out smoking hot in the middle frame.  Beleskey was inserted on that line in place of Jason Blake, who has a lingering foot issue, suffered on January 18 at the hands of his teammate, Lubomir Visnovsky.  Although Blake played between the injury and the All Star break, it became evident that this was not healing.  Blake underwent an MRI on Wednesday to get a better idea of what is up.   At least Beleskey can add his "B" so the line remains the BBC line!

Cogliano got his first goal at 6:59.  He burned Mike Smith for a second one at 10:07.  Why stop there?  The third one came at 13:50 and Cogliano had his first hat trick, a natural one, all in the same period.  Some guy named Teemu Selanne has had a couple of those for the Ducks.  But they don't happen too often.

"I've never been through a stretch like that before," said Cogliano.  "Once in junior, I think I scored four goals in one game. My goal for the end of the season is playing a big role in helping the team. I want to shoot more and have an impact."

Cogliano, who had his best season as a rookie with 18 goals, could very well end up with over 20 this year.  For a guy on the third line, that is definitely an impact.  

The third line was also very good prior to the All Star break, helping contribute to the Ducks streak of 9-1-1 in 11 games.   When you have three lines who can score, it makes it a lot tougher to defend against and sure goes a long way to winning games. 

Cogliano might have kept going with his goals but the Coyotes pulled Smith, who was exceptionally angry and took it out on the glass as he came to the bench.   Jason LaBarbera fared somewhat better in net and held the fort the rest of the game.

It appeared that Whitney had narrowed the game to one goal again, but his goal in the third period was waived off due to what the referee deemed "incidental contact" with Hiller by Martin Hanzal.  You would have to dig deep in the rulebook to figure out the interpretation, because on the surface, it did not look like contact at all, and the Coyotes had every right to be livid. 

"When both teams are amazed the call is being made, you wonder about it," said Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. "There is no contact with the goalie whatsoever. Hanzal's on the edge of the crease … you could probably find five goals in the League like that that would be called goals. Unfortunately that one got called back."

Hiller sided with referee Dan O'Halloran. "On the shot, (Hanzal) stretched his leg back which caught my pad so I couldn't move my pad. I think that's what the referee saw," Hiller said. "They aren't calling that every night … but we got a break there."

Even if the goal had counted, the Ducks still held strong and added an empty net goal from Selanne at 18:54 of the third to seal the game.  4-1 Ducks.  Game over.

The Ducks head home for a quick turnaround to play the Dallas Stars at the Honda Center on Wednesday night, where they hope to keep their winning ways going.

Some guys vacation.  Some just enjoy family time.  Others do their best to heal bumps, bruises and injuries that are lurking, but not publicized.  

Corey Perry does not get such luxuries as the only Anaheim Duck representative at the All Star game this weekend. 

Perry was not even supposed to be an All Star this year, despite being the reigning NHL MVP.  Teemu Selanne was getting the nod, but he declined the invitation.  Not only did he decline, saying it was a young man's game, but also said that Perry was the guy who deserved to be there.  Selanne might be 41, but he still plays like a young man. 

Nonetheless, Perry got a ticket to Ottawa. 

For a guy who was not even supposed to be there, he went in the sixth round of the draft on Thursday evening.   Daniel Alfredsson presided over the "home" team and Zdeno Chara headed up the away team.  Perry went to Team Chara, ahead of players with names like Sedin and Stamkos, and way ahead of Logan Couture, who earned a car for being the last man standing in the draft.

After everyone was divvied up into teams, it was time to determine who would get to participate in which skills competition. 

Team Alfredsson, made up primarily of anyone Swedish or normally in a Senators sweater, ended up winning the Skills Competition. 

Team Chara, primarily made up of Slovakian players and Toronto Maple Leafs (can't have Senators fans having to cheer for their hated enemy!), showed well, but could not overcome Team Alfredsson.

Chara set a new record in the hardest shot competition with 108.8 miles per hour registered with his shot.  No wonder no one stands in net for that one. 

Jamie Benn, who had an emergency appendectomy a couple weeks ago, won the accuracy competition.  Benn has not played a game since his surgery, but was able to participate in the All Star weekend.  The Sunday game will be a good warm up for him to come back after the break.

Perry was involved in the breakaway challenge, and made the most of his three attempts.  His first effort saw him balancing the puck on his stick and twirling with it dizzily.  On his final attempt, his best, Perry stopped mid ice and shed his gloves.  Going for something under his jersey, he pulled out a mini stick from his pants.  Perry finished his trek down the ice hunched over, handling the puck perfectly and putting it in behind goaltender Brian Elliott. 

Perry came in second place for his efforts, losing the Patrick Kane, who added props with a Superman cape, Clark Kent glasses and a puck that shattered into several pieces when slapshotted at the net.

Team Chara may not have come out on top in the skills competition, but they reigned in the actual All Star Game.  Marian Gaborik was named the MVP with three goals to his credit, including two that landed behind his New York Rangers teammate, Henrik Lundqvist. 

Perry added some icing to the cake by scoring the 11th goal for Team Chara late in the third period.  The final score was 12 - 9, and would have been more even were it not for the efforts of Tim Thomas in net for Team Chara. 

All in all, a great time had by everyone, but that is the point of the All Star Game.  Make it fun.  Make it for the fans. 

Tomorrow, everyone goes back to work and the serious business of the second half of the season begins.

Break's over!

You knew it had to come to an end at some point, but could you be faulted for wanting the winning streak to continue just one game longer?

The Ducks, who were 8-0-1, with a a five game winning streak, finally stopped earning points with a 1-0 loss to Dallas.  They did not play poorly.   Kari Lehtonen merely played better.

The Finnish goaltender stood on his head and developed octopus arms, stopping all 27 shots that he saw.   It was his first shutout of the season and it gave Dallas their first win since January 7. 

The game would still be going were it not for a fluke goal for the Stars.  The puck deflected off of defenseman Cam Fowler in front of the net and went in behind Jonas Hiller at 16:41 of the first period.

"I didn't even see the shot come," said Fowler.  "I don't know what I would have done differently to avoid it.  What are you going to do? Blocked a shot right off my pants and over Hilly's shoulder. You just shake you head and ask why sometimes. Why do those things happen? It's a part of the game."

The Stars did not get many chances and the Ducks held them to 16 shots.  It did not matter.  Without Lehtonen performing insanely well in net, Anaheim could not buy a goal.

Sort of karmic justice for being outplayed by Colorado on Sunday and still winning the game.  This time, the Ducks outplayed Dallas, but came out the losers. 

You win some.  You lose some.  Unfortunately the Ducks have lost too many this season and really would have preferred going into the All Star game break on a positive. 

The Ducks have to wait until next Tuesday to get back to winning again. 

Corey Perry will be the sole representative for the Ducks this weekend at the All Star game.  Everyone else gets to rest, relax and heal up.

In other notes:  J.F. Jacques was called up from Syracuse to serve his first game in his suspension.

The last time Colorado came to town, it wasn't pretty.  Sure, Jean-Sebastien Giguere was warmly welcomed back to the Honda Center, but was it necessary to give the Avalanche a 4-2 win as well? 

Three weeks later, and much has changed.  Like the Ducks record of late - 8-0-1 in their last nine games, a vast reversal of how they were doing prior to the new year.

Maybe those New Year resolutions work after all, because every single person is playing better on the Ducks and the results are wins, not losses.

"It's a team that everybody considers a contender," Giguere said after the 3-2 to Anaheim. "They have so much talent there and a world-class goalie. Nobody knows how they ended up where they were. We knew that they were going to start playing better. It was a matter of time."

Where they ended up was nearly the bottom of the entire NHL.  Were it not for Columbus, the Ducks would have been there.  As it was, they were languishing at 29th.   Now, after an amazing run that no one would have thought possible a month ago, the Ducks have scooched up to 26th. 

While that might not seem significant, the Ducks were 20 points out of a playoff spot at the beginning of January.  Now?  11 points out.  Gaining nine points in such a short time in a league this good is clearly a positive sign of progress.

That the Ducks could win the game against Colorado, after being outshot 45 - 18, proves how far this team has come. 

Bobby Ryan got not one, not two, but three breakaways and scored on two of them.

"I don't think I've had three breakaways in a season in a long time," Ryan said. "I'm not exactly built for speed on breakaways."

He capitalized nonetheless.  His first opportunity came at 2:49 of the first period while short handed.  Taking advantage of a turnover at the blue line, Ryan put the puck between Giguere's legs and things started off well. 

The problem was that shot on goal was the only one for more than half the period.  One shot, one goal. 

Despite throwing everything at Jonas Hiller, who more than earned his paycheck in the victory, the Avs could not get anything past him. 

In the third period, Ryan Getzlaf made it 2-0 just :20 seconds in while on the power play.  The referee ruled no goal on the ice, but the puck had trickled over the line.  Fortunate for the Ducks, the review showed clear and overwhelming evidence that the puck crossed the line, without any ambiguity. 

A few minutes later the Ducks caught Colorado on a bad change and Getzlaf got the puck from behind the net at one end to Ryan in the middle of the ice.  Ryan said "thank you very much" and successful breakaway number two made it 3-0 at 3:59.   

Colorado could not be faulted for wondering what it would take to get anything past Hiller.  They finally found out late in the period.  A bad turnover by Cam Fowler behind the net led to a goal by Ryan O'Reilly at 14:51.

Bobby Ryan nearly took the three goal lead back with his third breakaway of the game, but Giguere held fast on this attempt.  It gave Colorado life.

Milan Hejduk, who cannot seem to score unless it is against Anaheim, brought Colorado within one goal at 16:28 on the power play. 

Can you say nerve-wracking final three and a half minutes?

Hiller stayed strong and the Ducks did their job to prevent the game from being tied up at the last moment.  

"I wish it wouldn’t have been that tight of a game," said Hiller. "You never want to get scored on. I wasn’t thinking too much. I just didn’t want to get scored on again. Everybody suddenly realized that we had to step it up again. I was really impressed how we did. I thought we had one of our best shifts the whole game right after they scored their second goal."

Regulation win against the 8th placed Colorado team that they are somehow chasing.

The Ducks now have one final game before the All Star break, a Tuesday venture in Dallas against the Stars.  There is no question they want to go into the break with the same momentum they have had up to now.  After the break?  Chances are still slim for playoffs, but nothing is impossible.