No doubt the last two legs of the San Jose – Anaheim trilogy was dominated by the Ducks. The Ducks won last night 5-2 in a physical tour de force effort that had to make Carlyle and Burke very happy heading into the Christmas holiday. Yes they were outshot but really that was only one thing you could complain about. So thanks to Damned at The NHL Arena…let’s go into the four ciders of the Game of the Week.
4th cider — Marcel Goc (C) — San Jose Sharks
Goc was the one player on the one line that scored. Beyond that, San Jose came out and just could not convert. This line did all it was asked of and even scored…that should have been enough. Goc played with energy that he seemed to have lost from last season. This was the one good sign that came out of last night’s game for San Jose.
3rd cider — Corey Perry (RW) — Anaheim Ducks
Perry was just Perry last night…played hard…played tough and set the tone with the second goal. Odd? YES! But that second goal really put San Jose on its heels so much that Kunitz scored just 61 seconds later. Perry is a 40 goal scorer in this league making Ducks fans start to say Penner who? I like the way Perry plays…he is the quintessential power forward who was knocking around Sharks all night long.
2nd cider — Sammy Pahlsson (C) — Anaheim Ducks
He stuffed Thornton every time he was on the ice. Pahlsson is one of the, if not best shutdown checking line centers in the game and yet he has a little offensive upside. There were times last night when Joe Thornton look lost on the ice and then he lost it….punctuated by that elbowing penalty late in the third period…that is all about the Pahlsson effect. Imagine that!
1st cider — Chris Pronger (D) — Anaheim Ducks
Pronger not only shut up all the boos coming in his direction….but got the Sharks’ fans to boo the Sharks’ effort. It was more than the goal and assist he scored…it was 27+ minutes he logged in a nasty, physical effort that is a staple of Pronger. He also had 2 or 3 hits in that game that I won’t forget anytime soon and if you think San Jose wasn’t a bit intimidated..then I have a piece of land in New York City to sell you for $26…and some smokes.
This game lived up to the hype pretty much…a nice Game Of The Week if you ask me. I can’t waited to see what The NHL Arena has cooked up next week.
