Sorry for the delay, real life interrupted. However here is yesterday's game day reports.
Photo of the Game
Official Ducks Game Report
Boxscore
Faceoffs
Play-by-Play
Shift Chart
Rosters
TOI - PHX|ANA
TSN Video - Link
Official Ducks Coverage
With the Ducks hurting and coming off an 0-2 road trip, a home date against a struggling Phoenix team looked like the perfect prescription.
Unfortunately for Anaheim, the Coyotes refused to fill it.
In a mostly lifeless game, Phoenix’s Craig Weller scored his first career goal and the only goal of the contest, as the Ducks continued to tussle with finding the net in a disheartening 1-0 defeat at Honda Center.
“We had our chances tonight and we didn’t execute where we supposed to and where we should have," said Ducks winger Corey Perry. "We need to learn from this game and move forward. We did a lot of things right but we had a couple of minutes where we had a lapse and they capitalized.”The Ducks came into the game having won 10 in a row on their home ice against Phoenix, who entered the contest with a 2-5-0 record. Anaheim suffered its third straight loss and fell to 4-7-1 on the season.
The Ducks, already without Mathieu Schneider (ankle) and Todd Bertuzzi (concussion) because of injuries, played their second straight game without Rob Niedermayer, who hurt his groin prior to Tuesday night’s St. Louis game. Ryan Getzlaf, who left that game with a strained forearm, also sat out for Anaheim.
The Ducks outshot Phoenix 31-21, but couldn’t get anything past goalie Alex Auld, who pitched his third career shutout. Anaheim continued to produce nothing on the power play, going 0-6. That makes them 4-55 in their last nine games. Anaheim has just five goals in its last four games.
Read the rest here - Link
The latest Ducks TV is out - Link
LA Times coverage of the game
Nothing is a sure thing these days with the Ducks, not even with the Phoenix Coyotes in town.
Usually an appearance in the Honda Center by the Coyotes meant a victory was as close to a guarantee as the sun rising in the east. Not anymore.
The Ducks' season-long offensive woes continued Thursday night as they were shut out for the third time, 1-0, with journeyman Alexander Auld being the latest goaltender to take advantage of the punchless team.
Auld, who's on his third team in as many seasons, made 31 saves, but the outcome could have been much different had the Ducks been able to bury any of the chances left by a lowly Phoenix team that broke a 10-game losing streak in Anaheim.
"Obviously, we're squeezing our sticks," Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. "We missed open nets and we missed glorious opportunities. We seemed to get frustrated as the game wore on."
In dropping a season-high third regulation game in a row, the Ducks (4-7-1) have now scored two or fewer goals in eight of their 12 games. Again, they came up empty on the power play with six more chances wasted, which makes them eight for 72 on the season.Read the rest here - Link
The Press Enterprise has a game report
The Ducks are starting to repeat history, but not in the manner they want.
Forward Craig Weller scored his first NHL goal and Alex Auld made 31 saves to help the Phoenix Coyotes take a 1-0 win over the Ducks on Thursday before a sellout crowd of 17,174 at Honda Center.
The victory ended Phoenix's 10-game losing streak in Anaheim and extended the Ducks' current losing streak to three games. The defending Stanley Cup champs have gone 4-7-1 in their first 12 games and have just nine points in the standings.
"The biggest thing is for us not to panic," captain Chris Pronger said. "We can't start pointing fingers. We're all making mistakes out there. We can all be a lot better. We have to learn what it's going to take for us to win."
While it may not be time to panic, it may be time to get concerned.
After reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003, the Ducks opened the following season with a 4-6-1-1 record, generating 10 points in their first 12 games.
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The OC register coverage of the game
The Ducks might not have reached a crisis point yet, but things certainly appear to be headed in that direction.
Thursday night’s 1-0 defeat to the rebuilding Phoenix Coyotes at Honda Center saddled the Ducks with their second three-game losing streak of a season that is just 12 games old. It also raised the question of whether the injury-riddled club’s defense of last season’s Stanley Cup championship will last even into the holiday season, let alone next spring’s playoff campaign.
“I think the biggest thing is for us not to panic and not to start pointing fingers,” defenseman Chris Pronger said. “We’re all making mistakes out there. We can all be a lot better, and certainly we have to learn from this little stretch here what it’s going to take for us to win and understand that it’s a fine line between winning and losing. Those little mistakes that we’re making are costing us games.”
Pronger, appointed captain when his predecessor, defenseman Scott Niedermayer, did not return to the team this season, met the precarious situation head-on in the wake of the Ducks’ third shutout loss this season and second in six games.Read the rest here - Link
MVN has analysis of the game
The Ducks had another Pacific Division match up this evening, this time with the Phoenix Coyotes. This was somewhat good news for the Ducks, who have an injury depleted roster. The Ducks went 6-2-0 against the Coyotes last season and 7-0-1 the year before that. The Coyotes haven’t won a game in Anaheim since October 12, 2003, over four years ago. The Coyotes are only 2-5-0 to start their season at the bottom of the Pacific Division. The Ducks were missing key personnel in Mathieu Schneider, Todd Bertuzzi, Ryan Getzlaf and Rob Niedermayer. Both teams were trying to find offense and both teams have lousy power play and penalty killing percentages.
Ilya Bryzgalov got the start in net for the Ducks and Alex Auld started for the Coyotes. The Coyotes have not played since their 5-2 loss to the Red Wings on Saturday. The Ducks are coming off yet another road loss in St. Louis on Tuesday. With all the injuries, the lines had to be shifted and rearranged once again. Drew Miller took Rob Niedermayer’s place on the checking line with Sami Pahlsson and Travis Moen. Both Miller and Moen had several good scoring chances throughout the game and that line clearly had some good chemistry. The Ducks outshot the Coyotes 12 - 7 in the first period and had three power play opportunities, including brief time with the two man advantage. Yet at the end of the period the score remained the same as at the beginning - 0-0.
Read the rest here - Link
