Game 52: Ducks @ Avalanche 1.30.09

Ducks Win 4-3!!!!
Selanne celebrated a personal milestone - he became the Ducks' career leader in games played Saturday - by scoring the winning goal in Anaheim's 4-3 win over the struggling Colorado Avalanche.

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"I think it's very important," Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller said. "First, he's a great player and second, in the dressing room, he's a great guy and the young kids can learn from him. He knows how to score. He showed it again there in the third and it was the game-winner." [On Selanne]

"I think we got a pretty good breakout and a couple of good bounces and I wound up with a puck in front of the goalie," said Selanne, who has appeared in 617 games with Anaheim, one more than Steve Rucchin. "I got off a pretty good shot. It was nothing special."

Source for Quotes: nhl.com

Game 51: Ducks vs. Blackhawks 1.28.09

Ducks Lose 3-2

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"We came out and knew what we had to do, throw lots of rubber at the goalie, get in front of him and try to screen him," said Ducks forward Travis Moen. "We just needed a few more bounces. I thought we worked extremely hard tonight. We just didn’t quite get the win."

"It’s frustrating anytime you lose," Moen said. "We went to Phoenix and had a great game. I thought we played great tonight. There are a few areas in our game that we have to fix, but other than we worked hard and got lots of pucks on net."

"I think I felt better as the game went on," Selanne said. "Missing 17 games, it’s not normal just to come back. I knew that the next step was to start playing games and get into those situations. It’s a really good start. I’m happy I have no pain. It was tough to lose. We were working very hard. We just couldn’t score the third goal."

"I think it was a well-played hockey game," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "We created lots of chances for ourselves. We probably made a couple of mistakes in critical areas that cost us, but I thought our work ethic was strong. Playing in a back-to-back situation, we were able to carry a lot of that same type of energy into the game. I don’t think we were rewarded for the hard work that we put in."

"I really believe that if we can keep this effort, we are going to win a lot of games," Selanne said. "The third period was totally ours. That is a good sign. It’s something that we have to build on."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 50: Ducks @ Coyotes 1.27.09

Ducks WIN 7 - 3!!!

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
“You watch a lot of other teams that are having success, and they’re getting those goals and getting those bounces,” said Corey Perry “We’ve talked about it right from Day One in training camp — our middle-lane drive and stop at the net and crash the net. That’s how we have to play. We have to get those ugly goals to be successful.”

Randy Carlyle added, "You look at the goals we scored. They were all from the crease in. They were goals off faceoffs, off deflections and from jamming the crease. Those are the ugly areas to score goals from."

Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said it best: "The reality is we played against a team that knows the situation, knows where they're at and understands where they are in the standings. They basically wanted to win the game more than we did."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 49: Ducks @ Islanders 1.21.09

Ducks Lose (to the worst team in the league) 2-1.

This is what rock bottom looks like?
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Game Day Quotes:
"We probably had 15, 20 point-blank shots, but it hit the post or he got a pad on it, whatever,” said Perry of Danis. “Until they scored those first two goals, they were giving it to us. We finally clicked in and said ‘Oh, we have a game here.’ Then we started to play. By then, it was too late. We talk about that. We can’t have those kinds of starts.”

“We have to use the break, take a step back and not worry too much about what has happened, but worry about what’s coming up,” Giguere said. “It’s going to be a good four days for us to do that. I’m the first one who should do that.”

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 48: Ducks @ Rangers 1.20.09

Ducks Lose, 4-2, Once again...

<_< I hate this.
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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"They made a play in the crease area and Naslund backed into our goalie and moved the puck over to the other side with both feet in the crease," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "Gomez was almost behind the net when he tapped it in."

"He was outside the crease, I think," Hiller said. "I should still be able to stop it."

"Right now, we're just shooting ourselves in the foot," Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said. "It's not fun."

Source for Quotes: nhl.com

Game 47: Ducks @ Wild 1.17.09

Ducks Win 3-0!!!

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
If I can get ahold of any I will post them here!

Game 46: Ducks @ Penguins 1.16.09

Ducks Lose 3-1

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"We've got to be ready from the start of the game, and I don't think we were today," Anaheim forward Samuel Pahlsson said.

"It's a big roadtrip for us, we know the importance of it, and tonight not to come out with any points is disappointing," veteran defenseman Bret Hedican said. "Right now we're just a step slow; we're not making things happen."

Source for Quotes: nhl.com

Game 45: Ducks vs. Red Wings 1.14.09

Ducks Lose 4-3

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"I think our boys played pretty well for the most part throughout that game," said Ryan Getzlaf, who had a hand in all three Ducks goals. "We had a few mental breakdowns and they cost us goals. You play a good hockey team like that and that happens. We were right in that hockey game all night long. If it wasn’t for a few bounces, it could have been a different outcome."

"These are the types of games you need to win and the type of games you need to have at the end of the day," Giguere said. "We had a pretty good effort. We just found a way to lose. Teams that play with confidence, they find ways to win. I think the Red Wings did that tonight. "

"It was a really highly-paced game. In the end, we found a way to lose the hockey game," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "When you score three goals you should win in your own building. We turned the puck over, specifically in the third period on the two goals, which really provided the margin of victory for them. It wasn’t because didn’t try. We worked our rear ends off. We committed to playing a physical game. I didn’t think we were undisciplined. That was the way it went. We got beat."

"It’s going to be up to us, the veterans especially, to step up and create something here," Giguere said. "I think we’re a pretty confident group, but it could be a little bit better for sure, especially for me."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 44: Ducks vs. Devils 1.11.09

Ducks Win 4-3!

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"It’s been up and down this year so far," Kunitz said. "It feels good to help contribute and get the win. We’ve been hovering around the .500 mark the last little while and not really advancing ourselves. Every win is important for us and to get the home wins before we start out on the road."

"He’s a great offensive player that can move the puck and draws people to him," Kunitz said. "Any time you have a key offensive guy out of the lineup and you get him back, it gives the whole team a boost."

"It was nice to see Kunitz come through," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "I thought it was his best game in a long time. He was skating and banging and the puck seemed to follow him around that way."

"That one felt good. I won’t lie to you," said Giguere, who hadn't won since Dec. 14 against Minnesota at Honda Center. "At the end of the day, this game is about winning. You’ll always look better when you win. Hopefully this will give me a little bit of confidence, as well as the team and then we can start something from today’s game."

"I thought we played very well 5-on-5," said Carlyle. "The shots that we gave up were on the power play. We gave up too many from that standpoint because they had some flurries on the power play. Other than that, I thought we played a pretty solid game."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 43: Ducks vs. Lightning 1.9.09

Ducks Lose 4-3.

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"Tonight, we definitely didn’t play our best game," said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer. "Every chance they had they seemed to put in the back of the net on us. I guess that is the way it goes if you don’t play your best sometimes. You pay the price for it that way."

"Two steps forward, one step back or one step forward and two steps back in this case," said Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger. "Again, it is consistency and coming with that same energy and excitement for three periods every game. Tonight, we were pretty flat in the first and it took us awhile to get going until midway through the second."

"We’ve got a lot of injuries and a lot of things not going our way right now," Pronger said. "How we deal with it and how we handle it this adversity is going to make us better as a team and better as a group. We have to try to stay as positive as possible and take the good things we did. Some of us, including myself, need to pick up the play a little bit, especially defensively."

"They started well and came at us pretty hard," Niedermayer said. "We didn’t respond real well to that. Eventually, we did get going, but didn’t find a way to win the game."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 42: Ducks @ Kings 1.8.08

Ducks Lose 4-3

Bobby Ryan had his first NHL hat-trick tonight that was done in the span of 2:21. It was a natural hat trick, a rookie record for the Ducks, and the fastest in Ducks history. Major major kudos goes to Bobby Ryan.

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"It's a tough defeat when you have a good night when everybody's not going as well as they'd like to," Ryan said. "We got behind the eight ball early and gave them too many opportunities. We didn't deserve the two points tonight."

"Until we got back to back power plays at the end of the second period, we didn’t have a very good game," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "We didn’t do much to warrant being in the hockey game."

“I didn’t think he was square to the puck on the first goal and I didn’t think he was square to the puck on the second," Carlyle said. "The puck, in my mind, should not go in from those angles on the stick side on both goals, so I made the decision.”

“You don’t win if you don’t work," said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer. "It’s a pretty simple ingredient in the game of hockey and we didn’t do it for the full game and they did for the most part. We expect good things to happen after playing a few games of playing our brand of hockey. It doesn’t just happen. It takes the hard work and the commitment that maybe we weren’t quite ready to bring today.”

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Ducks Trade Brad May to Toronto

The Ducks announced on Wednesday that they have acquired a conditional sixth-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for left wing Brad May.

May, 37 (11/29/71), scored 0-5=5 points with a +5 rating and 28 penalty minutes (PIM) in 20 games with the Ducks this season. Acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for goaltender Michael Wall on Feb. 27, 2007, May collected 3-7=10 points with a +6 rating in 95 career games with the Ducks. He also appeared in 24 NHL Playoff games with Anaheim, earning one assist with 32 PIM while winning his first Stanley Cup in 2007.

A native of Toronto, Ontario, May has scored 126-159=285 points with 2121 PIM in 963 career NHL games. He began his NHL career with Buffalo (1991-98) before playing for Vancouver (1997-00, 2002-04), Phoenix (2000-03), Colorado (2005-07) and Anaheim (2006-09).

Source: ducks.nhl.com

Game 41: Ducks vs. Kings 1.6.08 (Halfway Point of Season!)

Ducks Win 3-1!!!

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"I’m usually not out there a lot on the power play, but I got a couple of chances there and it is fun," Pahlsson said. "It’s going to be tough to stay when we get some guys back here. I’m going to try to help out when I get my chance out there."

"I tried to get it on the far post and it hit my stick," Pahlsson said. "It was in the air and it went in. That is all that matters."

"It’s nice to see a guy get an opportunity," said Scott Niedermayer. "He does a lot of the tough work that isn’t all the glory. Now he’s out there on the power play. It’s nice to see get him rewarded with a goal. He’s a gifted player, has a great wrist shot and is a big, strong guy."

"With Jonas, any time a goalie pitches you a shutout, why fix it if it isn’t broken? " said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "Tonight, he didn’t have that much work, but he was called to make some big stops at critical times."

"We just try to go out there and play defensively as well as we can," Scott Niedermayer said. "Every team you play has some highly skilled forwards that you have to respect. But it comes down to us doing out job. That is really what we can control. We’ve being doing it lately, playing smart, simple and hard in the tough areas."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Game 40: Ducks vs. Coyotes 1.4.09

DUCKS WIN 2-0!!

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"For me, it’s important to play as much as possible because I think for a goalie, experience is a big part in this game," said Hiller, making his first apperance since a Dec. 28 win in St. Louis. "I just try to do my best every game I can play. It’s great that it worked out that well. I’m happy for me and happy for the team to get those two points because they were really important today."

"It was tough, especially because I already thought I wasn’t going to get a lot of shots that period because I had one shot until then," Hiller said. "They were in our zone for four minutes. It was hard on the legs. They moved the puck around pretty well. I think everybody battled through."

Added Ducks forward Bobby Ryan, "The penalty kill had to do it again tonight. It was nice for us to reward them for all they’ve done lately and put a few home."

"They cleared the puck, so it was a half breakout, half neutral zone regroup," Ryan said. "Getzy showed his poise again, carrying the puck all the way down the half wall and hitting Scotty. I think Scotty had too much to look at and found me off the side virtually all alone. That’s a tough for a goalie to make to get all the way back and across. It was easy for me to slide it home."

"Tonight was our best team effort that we’ve had," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. " For us, I think the difference in the game was our specialty teams. We got two power play goals and they went o-fer on their power play, so our penalty killers and our power play guys stood up."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com

Getzlaf, Niedermayer, and Giguere named All-Star Starters!

The National Hockey League announced today that Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf, goaltender J.S. Giguere and defenseman Scott Niedermayer have been voted to start for the Western Conference in the 2009 NHL All-Star Game, slated for Sunday, Jan. 25 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.

This marks the second time in history that a Southern California NHL team (Ducks or Kings) have had three starters named to the All-Star Game, following the 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings, who had three players voted to the 1989 contest (Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Steve Duchesne). It also marks the first time since 2001 that the Ducks have had multiple All-Star starters (Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya).

....

The 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend in Montreal will celebrate the Montreal Canadiens’ Centennial season with live national broadcasts of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills event on Saturday, Jan. 24, and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Jan. 25, on CBC and RDS in Canada and VERSUS in the United States.

Source: ducks.nhl.com

Perry Suspended!

NEW YORK -- Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry has been suspended for four games, without pay, for elbowing Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux during the third period of NHL Game #564 Friday night, the National Hockey League announced.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and based on his average annual salary, Perry will forfeit $114,516.12. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Perry will miss Anaheim's game against Phoenix Jan. 4, the home-and-home series against Los Angeles Jan. 6 and 8, and versus Tampa Bay Jan. 9. He will be eligible to return Jan. 11 against New Jersey.

Source: nhl.com

Game 39: Ducks vs. Flyers 1.2.09

Ducks Lose 5-4 in Shootout.

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GAME DAY QUOTES:
"I think this was the most intense game that we’ve played in awhile," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "It was a good hockey game. From our side, we’re taking a positive spin on it because we worked hard."

"Our unit has been working on getting shots to the net and getting two, three guys to the net for rebounds," said Ebbett, who was called up Dec. 20 when Teemu Selanne went down with an injury. "It just happened to come up about my waist high. I got my stick on it and tipped it in. It was pretty exciting and a good feeling to get that over with. Now, I don’t have to worry about that first one anymore."

"It’s a good stepping stone," Giguere said. "We need to start building on some positive stuff. The last two, three games we’ve seen a lot of good things. Tonight there were a lot of emotions and the penalty killing did its job. For sure, there are things you’d like to get back, but at the end of the day we gave it our best. But we need more coming up."

Added Carlyle, "For sure, you score four goals you should win the hockey game. But we lost a point. We didn’t lose the hockey game. We’ll just move on. If we can bottle this intensity, this emotion, this energy and continue to play at this level, then we’ll make some great strides."

Source for Quotes: ducks.nhl.com