Issue #52 – The Anaheim-lick Maneuver Issue
How bad can it get?
A 2-0 lead in the first period turned into a 7-2 route by the Anaheim Ducks as Vancouver coughed up an early advantage on a balmy evening in Orange County.
What started out as decent, turned into to pre-Halloween nightmare for the .500 Vancouver squad.
The Canucks started strong getting two quick goals in the first, trying to take advantage of a Ducks team that hasn’t won at home in five games.
After that it was all Duck. Giving up seven unanswered goals to a famished Anaheim squad that took advantage of a Canucks team that is missing five regular forwards and their star-goaltender.
The anemic Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan line finally got a chance to juke their stats, earning a combined eight points on the night and steering their own ship out of trouble, all-the-while watching Vancouver struggle to wade above their own .500 mark.
It seems like Vancouver, after gaining lead, forgot about their own scoring woes (remember all those forward out with injury) and gave the Ducks every chance available to get on the board, thereby sending Vancouver back north with a two-game road split.
A certain degree of hubris set in after getting the early lead, this helped the Ducks dictate the rest of the game.
Again I ask, can it get any worse?
It could, but for the Canucks what is worse then terrible is mediocrity. Unfortunately it is the mediocrity that Vancouver has excelled at for so long that makes them doomed to saddle themselves in defeat for many years to come.
To Vancouver, worst is not bad, and that sucks.
Next Up – Colorado