It will go down in the history books as a 1-0 shutout win for the Anaheim Ducks, but it should be noted that the stars were aligning for a much different result. In fact, it was a night of overall absurdities between the New York Islanders and the Ducks. For example:
1) Career back-up Curtis McElhinney, who wasn't even good enough to play five games a year for the Calgary Flames behind Miikka Kiprusoff, somehow got his first career shutout and actually has a better save percentage than starter Jonas Hiller (.924 vs. .918).
2) The Islanders, despite losing just 1-0, probably have the worst overall blue line in the league without Mark Streit back there to give it some actual credibility, and yet they gave up just 14 shots in the game.
3) The Ducks, despite winning 1-0, probably have the second-worst blue line in the league (despite stars-in-the-making Luca Sbisa and Cam Fowler being on it), and yet gave up just 27 shots on goal. Their average to date this season is 36.6 shots allowed per game, the second-worst in the league, next to the Atlanta Thrashers (the Islanders have for the record only given up 27.9 shots per game).
4) The Ducks have now won five straight, lending credence to the hypothetical notion that the Ducks are actually a good team.
5) Teemu Selanne, getting to the point that he should not only be thinking about retirement but retirement homes, assisted on Saku Koivu's game-winning goal, giving him a share of the team's scoring lead with 18 points in 17 games. Forget the Finnish Flash, the dude should be nicknamed Ponce de Leon for clearly having discovered the fountain of youth.
6) After reading through all reports of the game, Roloson seems to have actually made it through at least one game without suffering a collision with an opposing skates and then losing his mind.
Makes you kind of wonder about this topsy-turvy world in which we live, doesn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment