Game 3: Ducks 6 - Bruins 1

In the first two regular season games, the Ducks' top line couldn't have found a goal even if they had NASA's biggest, shiniest goal-findinator.



In game three, Corey Perry went on a breakaway (!) and chipped one in with his head*.

I'm pretty sure that's what you call a "turnaround."

Almost across the board, this was a prototypical example of what we want to be doing. To wit:

• A Selanne goal on the power play? Check. In fact, there were two. In 83 seconds. I love that guy.


• Some crazy handwork from Bobby Ryan? Check. A tip-in between the legs on a point blast from Scott Niedermeyer.


• Corey Perry following a rebound to the net? Check. See above.


• Random scoring from a third- or fourth-liner? Check. Evgeny Artyukhin finds twine for the second time in so many games. Also, George Parros missed it by that much.

I'd say the only things missing were an assist by Getzlaf (even though he set up Bobby Ryan in front of the net three times, and Tim Thomas beat the shot on all three attempts) and a goal from the blue line. But when you're looking at a 6-1 victory, is it really all that worthwhile to wonder about missed opportunities?

It is if you're Pete Peeters. The eeriest moment of the night was watching Marco "Hi, I'm German" Sturm slip a puck through Hiller's 5-hole just like Eric Belanger did to JS Giguere two nights earlier. Errant goals happen. Goalies get surprised. But a carbon-copy repeat of a sloppy goal in consecutive games makes me wonder if maybe (just maybe) one of Peeters' new goaltending tricks isn't working. But at the same time, we saw a much more confident and aggressive Giguere two nights ago than we saw all of last year, and Hiller seems to be stronger and sharper than ever before, so I'll concede that there's more going for us than against us in net right now.

This was a good game for us. The smiles on the bench - Randy Carlyle was laughing at Perry's second goal, for goodness' sake - were great to see. Just as it's not productive to get too bent about early-season losses, there's no need to buy any trophy polish after one decisive win. But if we can do it again in Philly, when emotions will likely be rather weird on both benches, then maybe we can start to walk a little taller.

Until next time...
-The Raving Duck

*If Ovechkin had done that, it would have been reported all over the place. Since Corey Perry did it, the NHL website declares "Selanne Bests Bruins."



Do I already have to start in with my "can't get no respect" rantings?