Ducks vs. Sharks, home-and-home

The good news? Ducks totally dominated and won a game against the Sharks!

The bad news? Ducks lost the second one and couldn't get those much-needed two points.

The good news? Ducks are still playing better than ever!

The bad news? After the horrible scrum at the end of tonight's game, I'm fearing we're going to see some fines and/or suspensions.

The good news? Ducks' playoff dreams aren't completely dashed yet.

The bad news? The last two games are absolutely vital.

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'm not going to jinx our playoff chances by talking about the playoffs prematurely. Let's talk about the first half of the huge, six-period showdown between the Sharks and Ducks. I wasn't able to be at home for this one, I was actually at the Kings/Coyotes game. Impressive showing for the Kings. Too bad really, since I was rooting for Matthew Lombardi and the Coyotes.

Anyhow, our boys were fighting their own battle 400 miles away in San Jose.

Our Legion of Doom (Corey Perry-Ryan Getzlaf-Bobby Ryan) starts off on the ice. Jonas Hiller in net for the Ducks, Perry's best friend Evgeni Nabakov in net for the Sharks.

Four minutes in, James Wisniewski shoots the puck wide at the point, but Getzlaf chases it down behind the net, shoots it quickly behind him on the short side, and straight to my boy Bobby, who taps it in for the first goal of the game. This one is Bobby's 29th goal of the season, tying him with franchise-record-setting rookie Dustin Penner.

Two minutes later, our Legion of Doom line strikes again. Chris Pronger mishandles the puck and nearly loses it at the blue line, but manages to chip it behind him to Getzlaf. Getzy passes it quickly to Perry who's skating down through the slot towards Nabakov, who apparently wasn't prepared. A quick wrister puts it into the net. Perry's 30th goal, Getzlaf's 62nd assist (tying him for Paul Kariya for the record).

And our Ducks are up 2-0! Tell me I'm not dreaming!

The lead is well-deserved. Our boys are skating like a perfectly-oiled machine. Putting the pressure on the Sharks through the neutral zone, coming with the forechecks. But the Sharks are a very aggressive team, and you can see why they hold the first place right now in the Western Conference.

At the middle of the period, the Sharks put their first puck behind Hiller.

The puck is kinda weird in this game. It's rolling, flipping around, not lying flat. Hiller catches a lucky break on a Shark breakaway in the neutral zone. The Shark offender couldn't get enough control on the rolling puck to make an effective shot. No goal.

At the end of the period, Hiller makes a bad play and ends up behind the net. Ducks take a penalty trying to help defend, and luckily, no goals scored despite the Sharks throwing all sorts of shots at the net. It's the first power play of the game, with only three seconds of it in the first period. Ducks take the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

As the second period unfolds, our Ducks show some great penalty killing. No shots for the Sharks on the power play, although there are a number of pucks rolling through the slot. And then another penalty, this one against Ryan Whitney for interference, which is argued by Whitney.

Petteri Nokelainen manages to steal the puck mid-pass, and heads upstream short-handed with Todd Marchant. He attempts the shot but it's redirected high into the netting abve the goal. On their next advance, the Sharks get it into the net. We're tied up, 2-2.

Finally, the Ducks are playing in the Sharks' zone. But their play seems to be falling apart. The Sharks are making better passes, better plays. Argh, this is hard to watch. Especially since the Ducks keep turning it over in neutral ice due to incomplete passes. Plus, we're not making hits, we're not staying close defensively. C'mon boys, we can do better than this.

As if they heard me, Christensen passes from behind the net right into the slot. Mike Brown jumps on that pass in the slot and quickly releases the puck before Naby can stabilize. And it's in the net!

Feeding off the momentum, our boys manage to stay in the Sharks zone and fight a bit harder than they had been. The second period is a lot of back and forth, up and down. Until Hiller makes some excellent saves and a scrum breaks out behind the Anaheim net. It's four on four for the rest of the period.

On a turnover in the neutral zone, Getzlaf breaks away with the puck, with Teemu Selanne speeding up the center behind him. He manages a beautiful pass through a set of Shark defender legs straight to the top of the crease. Teemu is there, his stick blade flat on the ice, and when the puck connects, it's chipped right into the net. That's why Getzy is such an incredible playmaker. This is his 63rd assist of the season, breaking the franchise record. What an amazing play! And it gives the Ducks an even bigger lead going into the second intermission, 4-2.

As long as our boys can manage to stay out of the sinbin, their chances remain good for this win. Against a team that has such a strong power play record like the Sharks, you just can't give them those opportunities to score, because they will.

As the third period opens, Hiller is again stopping pucks with his mask. He's also making some high-traffic, breath-holding plays. Just protect this lead, boys! They're putting some good shots on Naby as well. This one is getting intense as the Sharks try feverishly to close the goal gap. Personally, I think there were a number of times the Sharks could have had a penalty called, but our boys lucked out as no whistles were blown.

And now, the Ducks get their first power play when Teemu gets hooked. The Sharks have the 3rd best pk in the league. There's a breakaway, with Erik Christensen speeding up the ice, Bobby following. As he approaches the net, Christensen saucers the puck beautifully over a defender's stick, right to Bobby who slaps it in on the far side of the net. Perfect! Bobby's 30th goal of the season; he's the first Ducks rookie to do so. With only five minutes left, our boys are still playing offense.

Ducks penalty called on Pronger for interference. The Sharks have possession for a majority of this pp, but Hiller and the Ducks defense keep them scoreless.

Wow wow wow. What a win for our Ducks! It's only the fourth home loss for the Sharks this season. Unbelieveable. Final score for the first half of this home-and-home: 5-2.

As for the second half of the home-and-home...

I don't even want to think too much about tonight's game, it'll only make me mad all over again. I was there and saw all of the nastiness first-hand. So, just a few highlights.

Jonas Hiller in net again, Brian Boucher this time for the Sharks. Hiller is on a seven game winning streak, tying a franchise record. Unfortunately, he won't break this record tonight.

Fatigue was probably a factor in tonight's game, as our Ducks just seemed slower and not as physical. We, the fans, tried to give our boys extra energy. There were thundersticks handed out at this game and believe me when I say it was absolutely deafening in the Honda Center.

Petteri Nokelainen, on a short-handed breakaway, scores his fourth goal of the season. It was a thing of beauty, even more so as the first goal of the game.

The second Duck goal comes in the second period. Corey Perry capitalizes on a power play after Shelley gets a penalty for slapping George Parros with his stick. It was a retaliated "how ya doin" after big George hit Shelley over the boards and into his own bench.

Generally speaking, the first period was all about the Ducks. The second period was all about the Sharks. And the third period, well, that was all about really bad officiating. Going in, it was 2-2 and you thought you'd be looking forward to twenty minutes of grade A hockey. Instead, there were a number of non-calls that should have been calls and, most likely out of frustration, there was an all out brawl behind the Shark net after the final horn blew.

The fans, just as angry as our cheated Ducks players, threw water bottles and the like onto the ice, while the loudest "Ref you suck!" chant I've ever heard rang out. There really isn't anything else I can say about this game. I just want our boys to cool down, rest up, and bring their all for Friday's game against the Dallas Stars. I'll be at that one as well, and I'm really hoping for a better end than this one. As a money-paying fan, I think I deserve to get fair officiating, in the very least.