HELTER SKELTER
To paraphrase -- all right, bastardize -- the song: "Sometimes you
kill; sometimes you get killed." And that was the story of this
segment for the Ducks. Coming off a four-game winning streak that,
with the exception of a hard-earned victory over a lackadaisical
Flyers club, impressed no one, Anaheim began a mercurial stretch of
games. Overmatched and dispatched by Dallas with the Stars' usual
aplomb, Anaheim played a breakthrough pair of contests against
Phoenix and the Kings.
Phoenix games are always spirited, and in a rowdy 5-1 win, the Ducks
managed to get scoring from the oft-sought "others" -- Rucchin (2),
Drury and McKenzie -- and get firmly under the skin of their desert
adversaries. The game started physical, continued with many
unpenalized cheap shots, resulted in injury to Jamie Pushor --
courtesy of Keith Tkachuk's cross-borderline hit -- and ended with
former Coyotes tough-guy McKenzie smirking at his old friends after
potting the final goal.
McKenzie would later say he enjoyed yammering with pal Tkachuk,
whose head, he says, compares favorably to a Jack-in-the-Box,
size-wise. Hothead Phoenix coach Jim Schoenfeld, meanwhile, later
indicated that the Coyotes' ire and game-costing lack of discipline
harkens way back to Ruslan Salei's early-season "slew-footing" of
Daniel Briere. Not that that's a bad thing, said Schoeny, noting
that "maybe we're not finished getting back at them. Unlike [the
Ducks], we're in a position where we can waste a few points."
Can you believe this guy's never won coach of the year?
But the Ducks will take wasted points from Phoenix anytime, and
they earned a few of their own the next night in LA. Again,
"others" did the trick -- this time in the guise of Tomas
Sandstrom, who notched a penalty shot among his pair of markers.
SKIDDING
Then all hell broke loose. The team sleepwalked through a 6-2 home
loss to Edmonton and journeyed to a 6-3 pelting at Calgary. The
reshuffled lines were reshuffled again. Guy Hebert was sub-par.
Kariya -- in the midst of all this scoring by "others" -- was
slumping.
Then, just in the nick of time, came ... Vancouver! And all was
well. Kariya lit up the hapless 'Nucks, notching a penalty shot of
his own; Hebert came back to form. The team headed for three days
rest before a rematch with the Oilers, full of relief that a
"difficult stretch" of seven games in 11 nights was over, and only
slightly rationalizing the losses away to fatigue.
Was it scheduling? Will the new lines click? Will Dan Trebil,
brought up because of Jamie Pushor's injury, ever play? Will Matt
Cullen ever work his way back up to the first line? And what will
the Ducks name the sponsored in-arena blimp now that the contest
deadline is over?
You're on the edge of your set now, aren't you?
COMING UP
Four key contests against conference rivals open the next nine-game
LCS segment. After Edmonton (three points behind the Ducks), and a
home-and-home with San Jose (one point back), Anaheim entertains
struggling LA. Four wins here -- deserved, cheap, boring,
lucky...however -- would be a huge start for the stretch run. Four
points would be a disappointment.
