Ducks at Nashville, vs Predators

I'm watching this game while lying sick in bed. Not cool, but I'm hoping a win will be the medicine I need. Heaven knows the Ducks need a win!

The big news tonight is that J.S. Giguere is back in the net. Giggy hasn't played since the All Star break, hopefully the time off has given him a chance to breathe deeply, relax, and refocus his concentration. As wonderful as Jonas Hiller is, it's Giggy who has gotten this team into past championships.

We Ducks fan should just consider ourselves extremely lucky to have two excellent goaltenders on our team.

More news, the Ducks have acquired some new meat. I was about to say fresh meat considering how much play these guys have gotten recently on their former teams, but that somehow didn't sound right. Put Nathan McIver and David McIntyre on a plane, send it out and bring it back, and who should disembark but the Devils' Sheldon Brookbank and the Canucks' Mike Brown. I hope somebody's got a miracle up their sleeves...

Anyway.

As the first period unfolds, I'm elated to see Giguere playing with speed and agility. He made a number of excellent saves, but unfortunately, he couldn't keep the Predators from scoring first.

It seems our Ducks have made a tradition of letting the opposition score first, having done so in the last eight consecutive games. I'm not liking that one bit. At least this time, they answered with a beautiful goal by Corey Perry, who deftly maneuvered the puck past various Predator defenders to wrap it cleanly past netminder Pekka Rinne.

Going in to the first intermission, it's tied 1 to 1.

The Predators quickly regain their lead early in the second, and solidify it with another goal roughly ten minutes later. Trailing 1 to 3, my hopes are sinking for that Duck win. Ryan Carter honorably tries to rally the troops, earning himself and Kevin Klein fighting majors.

It almost worked. Bobby Ryan misses a goal by mere inches, bouncing a puck off the inside of a pipe as he got checked in front of the Predator goal crease. But a minute before the end of the second, Teemu Selanne manages a pass from behind the net to Perry, who happens to be right at the crease, and he pushes it in. Second goal for Perry, and the score tightens to 2-3 going into the second intermission.

Early in the third, Bobby is denied yet another goal. This one, a perfect pass from Brendan Morrison, and is somehow caught by Rinne from point blank range. My boy is visibly frustrated, as are Duckss fan all around, I'm sure. Just when you think the Ducks have turned over a new leaf with back to back wins, they follow that up with what is looking to be a back to back loss.

And to rub salt into a gaping wound, Ryan Getzlaf gets a high-sticking penalty with less than three minutes left in the game. Once he's out of the box, there would only be 45 seconds to get that equalizer. Hopes rise for a split second when a Pred is also sent to the box for a holding penalty, but those are quickly dashed when Carlyle sends Giggy to the bench and the Preds score an empty net goal.

I turned off the television at this point, a 4-2 loss was enough to make me ill.