Ducks at Phoenix, vs Coyotes

Right after our hometown heroes' landslide win against the Canucks, they were aboard a plane to Arizona, scheduled to compete against the Phoenix Coyotes the following night.

Never having had a good history with the second game of a back-to-back, it was going to be tough for our boys to prove that last night's win was more than a lucky fluke. I am proud to say, however, that our boys held their own Saturday night against a young hockey club with zero pressure to produce wins and a hot goalie between the pipes.

They were able to pull a shootout loss and one point from the game, despite looking completely gassed through much of the third period. The game was chippy and uber-physical right from the start, and yours truly had a feeling our boys would not be able to last all 60 minutes.

George Parros dropped gloves with Bissonette and, following a hit on Coyotes' Captain Shane Doan, James Wisniewski and Doan would take matters into their own hands. Wiz would later receive a two-game suspension for that hit.

Neither Corey Perry nor Teemu Selanne could get pucks past Ilya Bryzgalov on their shootout bids, but both scored in regulation for the Ducks two goals of the game.

Perry found net on the power play, slipping a puck past Bryz that came to him in the crease. Selanne's slap shot goal squirted through Bryz and gave the Ducks the lead for a very short 18 seconds before Fiddler would net the equalizer.

In my humble opinion, I think we would have gotten a goal in that shootout if coach Randy Carlyle had put in my boy Bobby Ryan instead of Ryan Getzlaf. As good as Getzy is at shooting, I feel our star forward just isn't playing up to his potential. He has looked slow and awkward on the ice this entire season, as if pain from that summer hernia surgery is still bothering him.

Jonas Hiller did a great job on the other end of the ice, disproving previous records that he can't deliver on a second game of a back-to-back. He stood on his head to keep his team in this game.

Our Ducks will take two days off before hosting the Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Tuesday.