Tough loss to the refs!

This game started so much like last night against the Sharks. The Ducks came out with tons of energy they were hitting, forceful and strong. A beautiful little shortie by Petteri Nokelainen and the Ducks have all the motivation, the crowd behind them, and most importantly...the LEAD!

Wow! Keep this game up Ducks and we can take these two points from the Sharks right now...

Hold on, still so much more hockey to be played.

Some back and forth play in the second period has me scratching my head! What happened to those forceful, smart Ducks?! Emotions getting the best of them, they started taking weak penalties and breaking down defensively. What happened to strong physical play? What happened to making smart passes? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENERGY IN THE BUILDING?!

With such a shaky 2nd, the Ducks would need a HUGE momentum shift on both ends of the ice in the third period. Unfortunately, they let their frustrations get the best of them. Chris Pronger lazily clears the puck in the defensive zone that would send the Sharks on the ultimate 5 on 3 opportunity for 1 minute. While the Ducks were able to kill that minute of play, there was no doubt that San Jose would find a way to score while still on the man advantage with 1 minute remaining in their PP opportunity. What were you thinking Pronger? There was NO ONE around. That insane puck lifting clear was NOT necessary! You not only threw away the puck, ultimately, you threw away the game. Such a frustrating penalty. With the Ducks having to battle with the refs all night (who seemed completely unable to call the OBVIOUS), the Ducks didn't need another reason to find themselves in the box. In addition, later in the third, Corey Perry gets called on a rather WEAK high sticking penalty. It was quite obvious he wasn't happy about it. Don't worry Pears...the fans weren't either.

I can't imagine I'll find anyone to disagree on this one...but where were the refs tonight? In the final minutes of the game there was so much pushing and shoving, cross checking and hitting...in the end, there were MANY penalties handed out:

At the 20:00 minute mark, penalties as follows:

Anaheim Ducks:

Corey Perry: Roughing; 2 min

Ryan Getzlaf: Interference on goalkeeper; 2 min

Ryan Getzlaf: Roughing; 2 min

Ryan Getzlaf: Misconduct; 10 min

Teemu Selanne: Misconduct; 10 min

Andrew Ebbett: Roughing; 2 min

Andrew Ebbett: Misconduct; 10 min


San Jose Sharks:

Jonathan Cheechoo: Misconduct; 10 min

Joe Thornton: Roughing; 2 min

Marc-Edouard Vlasic: Roughing; 2 min

Marc-Edouard Vlasic: Misconduct; 10 min

Brian Boucher: Goalie leave crease; 2 min

WOW! Even at the end of all that, the Ducks still get the short hand. It was a frustrating game all across the boards. The fans felt the frustration that the Ducks were showing on the ice, and for good reason. The important thing is to keep your cool...and the Ducks were unable to do that.

Hot-headed men fighting for the playoffs...watch out!

Here's a huge factor to watch out for over the next week. The Ducks not only need to win BOTH games for safety reasons, but they really need Nashville AND St. Louis to lose at least 1 of their remaining 3 games. If in the end, all the teams end up with 90 points (which would mean only 1 win for the Ducks and 1 LOSS for BOTH Nashville and St. Louis), the Ducks will have the advantage having won 42 games vs. Nashville with 41 and St. Louis with 40...and therefore a playoff position.

When it comes down to it, I'm thrilled the Ducks got at least 2 points out of this weekend. It's just very hard to swallow when they could have reasonably taken all 4.

I can't believe these playoff hopes are coming down to the final 2 games of the season.

GO DUCKS!!!