OUCH!  That is going to leave a mark!!

Almost certainly going to mean that ANA gets the 5 seed.  Make a tough opening round opponent!!

DARN the Luck!!!

Pacific Standings:

PACIFIC GP W L OT Pts
Dallas Stars 70 41 24 5 87
San Jose Sharks 67 38 21 8 84
Anaheim Ducks 70 38 25 7 83

Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 03/07/08 at 12:32 PM ET

Enh, that karma is a bizznatch, eh?

Posted by TeamDub from The gratch. on 03/07/08 at 12:34 PM ET

Isn’t a lacerated leg what sidelined Kevin Bieksa for what seemed like forever?

Painful - I hope he doesn’t get an infection.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/07/08 at 12:37 PM ET

i have no sympathy for that thug team..

Posted by !! on 03/07/08 at 12:38 PM ET

Just to reinforce the point I tried to make earlier, from Eric Duhatschek:

--- Question: How will Anaheim, after being shut out in back-to-back games, fare down the stretch without their second-leading scorer Corey Perry, out with a lacerated leg, probably for the rest of the regular season and maybe into the first playoff round as well? Perry’s 29 goals led the Ducks; from there, it’s a long drop down to Ryan Getzlaf at 21, Chris Kunitz at 19 and then Todd Bertuzzi at 13. Here’s how thin the Ducks offence gets. After only 13 games, Teemu Selanne has seven goals; among the forwards who’ve been on the roster all season, only the aforementioned four have scored more.

Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 03/07/08 at 02:09 PM ET

I hate to see anyone get seriously injured.  Really I do.  But… this is me smiling:

- - - - - - - - -

With that fanaticism out of the way, it will be interesting to see how the Ducks handle this from here on out.  They’re still a deep team, they still have good goaltending and good defense, both so important in the playoffs.

With that being said, even 5th place in the conference is hardly assured.  Everybody behind them in the conference standings have games in hand.  Let’s just suppose those teams already played those game and won them all. Yeah, it’s a bit of a stretch, but this is my post:

5 Anaheim 70 38 25 7 83
6 Minnesota 70 37 26 5 83
7 Colorado 70 36 26 6 82
8 Vancouver 70 33 24 10 82
9 Nashville 70 34 26 8 80
10 Chicago 70 33 28 6 78
11 Phoenix 70 34 29 5 77

Still in 5th, but only by the skin of their teeth.  No more room for performances like the last two games.

Posted by BobTheZee on 03/07/08 at 02:38 PM ET

@ Jeff:

Thanks for the numbers.  I had no idea Anaheim was having that much trouble scoring.  I knew they had gotten off to a slow start, but...no wonder they were happy to get Selanne back.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/07/08 at 03:18 PM ET