Ducks lose to visiting Caps in high scoring thriller 7-6 (2/11)
It was has to be the most exciting game of the season turned into a rough late loss for the Ducks vs. the visiting Washington Capitals. The packed house was treated to an offensive frenzy but not a well-played game by hockey standards. The goalies were ineffective (as a matter of fact, the Caps pulled their starter Varlamov after the first period trailing 3-2. The defense was shaky on both sides with many sloppy plays and giveaways (even a bad one from Selanne right in front of his own goal). Yet the fans were treated to some gorgeous goals and fantastic moves. One of them was by Alex “the great” Ovechkin as he went one on one with Ducks defenseman Lilja and he flat out sped around him and scored on a wrist shot as he went down on his knees.
The Ducks top line of Perry, Getzlaf and Ryan all had a goal each and netted 10 points total that wasn’t good enough as Washington sniper Alex Semin had a hat trick, the last one coming with less than 2 minutes left in the game to give the Caps a 7-6 lead in which they held onto. The Caps backup goalie Neuvirth got the win while the Ducks backup goalie Curtis McElhinney took the loss as he played instead of Jonas Hillar who was put back on the IR suffering from concussion like symptoms. Hillar returned to shut out the Oilers on February 13th before experiencing dizziness so he will be re-evaluated.
There were four lead changes and Anaheim even had a two-goal lead in the second period. Coach Randy Carlyle was visibly disappointed after the game and said the team lost all focus after returning from a 4-0 road trip. He wasn’t done when he said that every player and coach had to take responsibility for this loss. McElhinney said he let his boys down and didn’t play well giving up seven goals. Getzaf and Perry each had 4 points and looked dominating on offense. The home crowd gave a rousing applause to defenseman Francois Beauchemin who played his first game back at home after returning to the team via a trade with the Maple Leafs that included Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner. After losing Pronger and Niedermayer from their 2007 Stanley Cup Champion team the last two years, Beauchemin was a key addition as he was also on that team. He is a stay at home defenseman who struggled in Toronto after signing as a free agent but looks forward to helping the Ducks again back to the Playoffs.
The Ducks hit the road vs. Minnesota and St. Louis before coming back for a seven game homestand including vs. the Kings on February 23rd as the second half of the season has heated up heading down the stretch for the playoffs.
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