Anaheim Ducks

[jeffl97]

FriedgeHNIC Elliotte Friedman
Boudreau is already in Anaheim. Will run practice tomorrow. Clearly, win over Montreal was immaterial.

[Ballsakic]

Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle has been fired, and former Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau has been hired.
http://ducks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=604085

I for one am excited for the move.

Finally they listened to me
Also Jeff called who the coach will be, Great Call Jeff

[Ballsakic]

Bobby Ryan's stint on third line didn't last long. He's back skating with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

[newper114]

Bobby Ryan's stint on third line didn't last long. He's back skating with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

What are the practice lines?

[Ballsakic]

Here are some comments that came Thursday in the aftermath of the Ducks’ firing of head coach Randy Carlyle and hiring of Bruce Boudreau as his replacement…
Captain Ryan Getzlaf: “Something had to happen. Whether it had to be this drastic, who knows? That’s not my decision to make. That’s the GM, and we stand behind him. He made a pretty big decision there in getting rid of one of his best friends and a great coach. It shows he believes in our group, as well.”
Corey Perry, on coming to the rink Thursday to practice for a new coach: “It was very weird. I didn’t know what to expect. We don’t know him. He doesn’t know us. Coming in with Randy not here it was just a different feeling. Randy did a lot for this organization. He took us to the Stanley Cup in my second year. Those kinds of things are memories you’re gonna have forever.”
Perry on Boudreau’s playing style: “I know he likes the up-tempo, get the puck, get it out and get on the offense. And I think that’s what our team likes.”

Bobby Ryan, on his initial reaction to the news: “To be honest, right off the bat, I was thinking it might be a yard sale or a fire sale and a lot of things might be changing. So I immediately kind of looked around to see if I had any other texts or missed calls.”
Jonas Hiller: “I don’t think it was wrong or anything, what Randy taught. But it seemed like he couldn’t get through to all the guys. Some guys, I don’t know if they were tired of hearing it, if they didn’t believe in it, but it seemed like he couldn’t get us going every night.”
Teemu Selanne, on the Ducks dismissing not just Carlyle but also assistants Dave Farrish and Mike Foligno: “It was a great, long road together. I really felt sorry for those guys. They had to pay the price for we did on the ice. I’m very disappointed in the situation. Nobody wanted this to happen.”
Ducks Blog:
Confirming @swhyno report, Ducks are expected to announce Bob Woods as an assistant coach tomorrow. Woods was with Boudreau in Washington.

[Ballsakic]

What are the practice lines?

Cogliano skating on third line with Hagman and Smith-Pelly. Beleskey up with Koivu and Selanne. Big line together as expected.

[jeffl97]

I'm going to the game tonight.

[tgraveline]

Nice! I wish I could go to a game tonight too! Though I don't want to drive down to Anaheim right now. I need an easy vacation.

[Ballsakic]

I'm going to the game tonight.

Im not going to OC in this traffic. enjoy it Jeff. "

[Ballsakic]

Ducks 2-0 early .
They seem to have zip in the first period so far.

PP have 4 forwards and Fowler.
Its the same as Carlyle used except Ryan is on the PP
with Getzlav at the point.

[littleranger]

I have sat Hiller for two games this year. He is on pace to win the second tonight. What the hell!

[jeffl97]

Ducks vs. Flyers


New lineup under Boudreau

Ryan - Getzlaf - Perry
Beleskey - Koivu - Selanne
DSP - Cogliano - Hagman
Maxwell - Macenaur - Gordon

Fowler - Beauchemin
Sbisa - Lydman
Brookbank - Guenin

Hiller
JDD

PP1:
Ryan - Selanne - Perry
Getzlaf - Fowler

PP2:
DSP - Koivu - Cogliano
Sbisa - Beauchemin


My thoughts on the game tonight:
First of all, it was a lot more exciting. Way more scoring chances, the play was opened up with lots of odd-man breaks rather than a complete defensive battle. Secondly the Ducks used a certain play a lot which they never used before. From behind the red line they would shoot the puck into the corner when the Ducks had a guy going full stride and would obviously win out the race preventing icing. This led to more offensive time zone. Another thing that they didn't do before is before breaking into the zone they dumped area passes and went in and chased with full speed. Boudreau's game relies upon a lot of speed. Even more changes, the Ducks have a new way of blocking shots/passing lanes, utilizing their complete body on the ice. Carlyle told the Ducks to never leave their feet so this was obviously something Boudreau implanted.

Another thing to focus on is line-balancing as well as secondary scoring. The 1st line and 2nd line played almost the exact same minutes at even strength, with the 3rd line playing an ample amount of time as well. Under Carlyle the 1st line would play the majority of the game while the 2nd line got a regular shift once in a while and then the 3rd and 4th lines not doing much. When the 3rd and 4th lines did play they were relegated to grinding/checking roles. Under Boudreau ex-capital Andrew Gordon scored his first goal as a Duck. (with his linemates Maxwell and Macenaur assisting on the goal).

Beleskey's addition to the 2nd line in favor of Cogliano seemed to pay off well. Beleskey is a good grinder-type player who's hard work payed off big time in Selanne's goal. Hopefully they can find some chemistry and begin to become solid offensive contributers. Cogliano's line showed some real speed and I'm excited to see what they can come up with.

On the Duck's first goal Koivu made a nice seeing eye pass to DSP who then tipped it to Cogliano before it eventually made it's way to the back of the net. Flyers made a bad line change on the penalty kill and the Ducks were able to capitalize on the breakaway.

Another thing I noticed, as far as faceoffs go Boudreau only trusts Koivu and Getzlaf. Macenaur got a few chances on the dot as well, but considering he was 2 for 7 Boudreau began putting either Getzlaf or Koivu out for the faceoff and then quickly changed to the normal center for that line.

Not sure how this makes sense but after a board from Beleskey some penalties were dished out:
17:35 Anaheim boarding - 2 min M. Beleskey drawn by S. Couturier
17:35 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min H. Zolnierczyk drawn by M. Beleskey
17:35 Anaheim roughing - 2 min M. Beleskey drawn by A. Meszaros
17:35 Philadelphia roughing - 2 min A. Meszaros drawn by M. Beleskey

Flyers should send 2 men to the box, and the Ducks send 1, making it a 4 on 3 Duck's powerplay. After 2 minutes expires the Flyers should then have a 5 on 4 powerplay, however play resumed 5 on 5 throughout this whole stretch of time. ???

Jonas Hiller played well even though he let in 4 goals. The first goal he had no chance on as it was a nice deflection by Jagr. The second goal was a 5 on 3 in which he had no chance on. The 3rd goal was DSP's fault if I recall correctly as he had an easy chance to clear the zone, but failed which resulted in the play staying in the zone and to the eventual Flyers goal. All 4 goals were scored by making Jonas Hiller move from side-to-side.

Ryan Getzlaf - Dud of the night for sure. The whole top line for the Ducks did absolutely nothing in this game, so even with the secondary scoring the Ducks were unable to pull through. The reason Getzlaf get's the dud of the night is for what transpired in overtime. He tripped up Voracek, and then proceeded to wine to the ref that that particular play should be let go in overtime. Getzlaf then got another penalty for unsportsmanlike. This was with 4:19 left to go in Overtime. The Duck's killed the first penalty, but then got scored on for the second one. Getzlaf essentially costs the Ducks the game by being selfish. I personally don't think the ref should have called the penalty (or a few other penalties) but the fact of the matter is Getzlaf is wearing the C, he needs to lead by example.

One more thing I did notice in Boudreau's system that I haven't mentioned yet is that there is a lot of stick-picking (which leads to stick infraction type penalties - hooking, cross-checking, slashing etc.)

I think there is more, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head for now.

edit: yes there is more, after reading TK's studs and duds I'd like to point out a few things. The game was actually a success for the Ducks... for 2 periods. Once again the Ducks don't know how to play a full 60 minute game, because they only showed up for 40 minutes of this one. They started loafing around and taking dumb penalties (though the reffing was a bit questionable at times). They need to learn how to close out games as well as play a full 60 minutes and my guess is that is something Boudreau will work on. The powerplay started out looking great, but as the game went on the Duck's couldn't adapt to the Flyers system and had plenty of trouble even getting into the zone. For some reason they stopped making their dump area passes and tried to carry it in to no avail. Getzlaf tried to make his too-fancy plays which just don't work. The penalty kill also didn't fair well - the Flyers looked dangerous at all times. So the two things to be worked on next is consistent effort and special teams.

[Carcillo]

Ducks team photo:

[jeffl97]

icemancometh Eric Stephens
Ducks bring up LW Jean-Francois Jacques from AHL Syracuse.

[jeffl97]

Once again the Duck's start out coming to play. Love to see Koivu's line scoring again. JFJ and Staubitz first fight of the night.