Avalanche Smother Ducks

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For the second straight game the Ducks were held scoreless. Their lack of offensive production continued as the Ducks fell to the Avalanche 1-0. This was Colorado’s fifth straight win and their first against the Ducks this year. The Ducks won the season series three to one, but their lack of offense didn't help silence the critics at all.

Jose Theodore made 27 saves as he helped conclude the shutout for the Ducks. This was Theodore's second shutout of the season and the twenty-fifth of his career. On the other side of the ice, Jonas Hiller made his third consecutive start in the place of Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Hiller made 29 saves and gave up one goal as he went on to lose his second consecutive game. The only goal on the night came 11:59 into the second period as Wojtek Wolski scored his first goal in the past fifteen games. He was assisted by Andrew Brunette and Paul Stastny. The best chance for the Ducks to finally get on the board came early on in the game when Cory Perry had a break away against Theodore. Theodore however was able to make a nice save and from there on out keep the Ducks scoreless. The Ducks now look to end this drought on Sunday as they take on the Canadiens.

Ducks cool down Flames

On paper before the game it would appear the Ducks were in for major trouble on Friday. They were playing without their captain Chris Pronger, who was still nursing his surgery after fracturing his jaw, and head coach Randy Carlyle, who was out with the flu. However, even with their absences the Ducks didn’t seem to miss a beat. The Ducks held Calgary to just one goal on 23 shots as they hold to win the game 3-1. This allowed the Ducks to capture their fifth straight win and their tenth victory in the past eleven games.
“Randy was not here and we were missing some key guys, but we managed to put that to the side," Niedermayer said. "We just tried to play our game and got rewarded for it.
The win gave assistant coach Dave Farrish his first career win as he stepped in for Randy Carlyle.
"Dave did a great job of coming in, keeping it simple and not trying to do too much," said Ryan Getzlof. "He rolled the lines. Dave knows our system as well as anybody, as do we. He just had to reinforce those extra little things and he did it tonight."
The game started off when Mathieu Schneider scored the first goal just 35 seconds into the game. Later in the first period Scott Niedermayer scored his fifth goal of the game as the Ducks went up 2-0. In the second period the Dion Phaneuf finally got the flames on the scoreboard when he light up the goal at 7:09 minutes. This however would be the only goal Jean-Sebastien Giguere would give up the entire night. The game remained tight until Teemu Selanne scored with just 51.9 seconds left in the game. This insured the Ducks victory and their quest to make the playoffs again. The next game will be on Monday night as the Ducks try to make it six straight wins against the Senators.