The Hawks played 15 teams last year and recorded wins against 14 of them. This is the other one.

The Ducks are either the worst of the legitimate contenders or the best of the sleepers. It's not far-fetched to think they could win the West. The depth issues that made them kind of a punchline for years have been addressed well, and there's apparently some magical goalie factory in Anaheim that keeps churning out elite Europeans: Bryzgalov, Hiller, now Fasth, and now Frederik Andersen out of nowhere. The last three are all on the roster now, and with Hiller the senior partner and expiring contract, it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be shipped for an extra piece before the deadline. He's expected to start tonight, however. It's Selanne's final year for realz this time, and it's just as well because he's finally showing his age and having more off nights than on. I fully expect a goal and an assist from him tonight, though, because he always gets them against us, the bastard. Ryan Getzlaf is having an amazing year so far, they're getting quality defense from Fowler, Lindholm, et al., Mathieu Perreault is a useful player whom they got from Washington for nothing, and Dustin Penner has rebounded from fat jokes to being a game-changing power forward. 13 fighting majors on the year for the Ducks already (4 for the Hawks), which would seem to indicate they're tending toward their old brawling ways under Burke/Carlyle. All in all, it's a very solid team, though hardly unbeatable. Take away point inflation and they've had a better season than the Hawks have.

Raanta is the confirmed starter for the Hawks. No word on whether Shaw is back in the lineup, though you certainly hope so after that shitpile of a bottom six last night. Handzus was out with "illness," or rather "badness," so he's a better bet to be back.

Ducks: 18-7-5 (41), 17-8-5 adjusted (39), 36.169 expected
Hawks: 20-6-4 (44), 16-8-6 adjusted (38), 37.615 expected

Ducks: 3.067 scored (6th), 2.533 allowed (14th), 0.533 differential (8th)
Hawks: 3.467 scored (1st), 2.733 allowed (18th), 0.733 differential (4th)

Ducks: 16/105 15.2% on the power play (23rd), 80/99 80.8% on the kill (18th)
Hawks: 20/97 20.6% on the power play (9th), 61/84 72.6% on the kill (29th)

If you're wondering how anyone could have a shittier penalty kill than we do, I think the Isles gave up 3 PPGs to the Blues last night, dropping them to a horrifying 63/90 on the year.

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The departure of Kyle Beach from the organization today will inspire the boys onward to victory!!!

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

We're here! I need sign ideas!

I gotta feeling the Hawks will score 3 in the 3rd.

Versteeg ties it at 2 going into the 3rd . The Blackhawks look just ok. Anaheim not impressing me at all.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The first period was spent in the offensive zone but almost no shots. Crowd is flat too, lot of ducks fans here. Are they still tired from the trip?

How can there be lots of Ducks fans here? There aren't lots of Ducks fans anywhere

And yeah, they're tired, they're beat up, and Toews is doing his annual Captain Invisible stretch.

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Yeah I don't get how a guy who is that good and gets that much ice time can disappear from the scoresheet like he does for periods during the year.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Don't think you can blame it on being tired from the trip.

Where are your seats?

In the united center.

Three is a really cute guy in front of us but its only his profile. Straight on he's kinda weird looking.

Well, now that Raanta knows what shootouts are, maybe he'll be able to stop the Ducks' third line. Jesus Christ. Didn't deserve to win that one anyway. At least it's a loser point.

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That might be the absolute worst performance by a goalie I've ever seen in a shootout.
No exaggeration, possibly the worst.
Still like him though.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Sick goal by the captain. Kaner needs to do better.

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Elections have consequences.

Seriously, pretty pathetic when you lose with Toews/Sharp/Kane and they win with Kyle Palmieri and Nick Bonino.

Well, the Florida Panthers will cure what ails us!

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Agreed.

He looked more out of place than beardown on a date. That was painful to watch.

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Brutal. Has he ever been in one before?

Something else I noticed, if we have a guy in front of their net we get pushed around. When they have a guy in front of our net we let him be there, the defense is a couple feet in front of him. Why? What's the difference in strategy?

I was listening to the Ducks broadcast online for some of the game and they were commenting on how bad the Hawks goalie was during the 1st and 2nd periods. On some of his reactions to shots and bad positioning. They said just throw pucks at this guy from wherever. Said he might not be a worthy NHL player.

He looked fidgety and slow to react sometimes. Maybe he'll learn could be too soon to tell.

He looked like shit on the shoot out. Offense didn't have the production but that game ended up on him

Yeah, well, if your gig is doing radio for Anaheim, maybe you're not a worthy NHL analyst.

He's a backup goalie in his North American rookie season who has been rushed into service because Old Man Padding blew out his groin and shouldn't have been here in the first place. Of course he's going to look raw at times. People were talking about him as the best goalie outside of North America this summer, so he might still have upside. Then again, people said the same thing about Jacob Markstrom a few years ago, and he basically played himself out of the league already. I'm sorry we can't keep pulling stud goalies out of our ass like the Ducks do.

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