CBC-Sports

Hiller, Marchant unlikely heroes for Ducks

April 17, 2009 02:40 AM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

Anaheim's 2-0 victory over San Jose in Thursday's series opener came as the result of any number of contributors, but the two most important were not fellows you listed as likely heroes.

The first, Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, turned away 35 shots in getting his first shutout in his first playoff appearance outside Switzerland (he was a teammate of Joe Thornton's in the lockout year of 2004-05) and could credit a stout and disciplined defense for getting clean looks at the Sharks' shots and clearing away those troublesome rebounds.

The second player wasn't Ryan Getzlaf — despite his goal and assist — but third-line centere and penalty-killing specialist Todd Marchant, who won 17 of 24 faceoffs, many of them in his own end while shorthanded. Marchant played more minutes than any other Anaheim forward and took more shifts than anyone on either team because of the Ducks' six penalties.

The ever jolly Randy Carlyle saluted his penalty killers, but also pointed out that they couldn't have been so good if they hadn't had so much work.

"We've talked and we've talked and we've talked and we've talked and we've talked and we've talked about taking penalties," the coach said. "I guess we're just slow learners."

The pressure mounts already

Red Sox and Cubs fans would hit you with a beer bottle if you mentioned this to them, but the Sharks have become the NHL's poster children for playoff underachievement over the last three years.

They became the first No. 1 seed to lose an opening game since 2003, and were actually booed by the usually forgiving San Jose crowd at game's end for a performance that belied their 35-17 shot advantage.

Then again, San Jose has averaged barely two goals per game over the last 25 playoff games (55 goals), so the fans are used to too many nail-biters to begin with and sort of hoped that this year the Presidents' Trophy might make them immune from the lapses that punctuated Thursday's defeat. Not so. The Sharks have also lost five of their last six series openers.

Notes

There were no apparent injuries on either side last night . . . Sharks tough guy Jody Shelley got three shifts in the first period but did not see ice time thereafter. Ducks enforcer George Parros got two shifts after the first period.

Sharks forward lines

Patrick Marleau-Joe Thornton-Devin Setoguchi

Milan Michalek-Joe Pavelski-Ryane-Clowe

Travis Moen-Marcel Goc-Jonathan Cheechoo

Jody Shelley-Jeremy Roenick-Mike Grier

Sharks defence pairings

Brad Lukowich-Dan Boyle

Douglas Murray-Christian Ehrhoff

Rob Blake-Marc Edouard Vlasic

Sharks scratches

Alaexei Semenov, Claude Lemieux, Tomas Plihal, Jamie McGinn

Ducks forward lines

Bobby Ryan,-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry

Drew Miller-Andrew Ebbett-Teemu Selanne

Todd Marchant-Petteri Nokelainen-Rob Niedermayer

Mike Brown-Erik Christensen-George Parros

Ducks defence pairings

Chris Pronger-Ryan Whitney

Scott Niedermayer-James Wisniewski

Francois Beauchemin-Sheldon Brookbank

Ducks scratches

Bret Hedican, Ryan Carter, Brad Larsen, Troy Bodie, Brendan Mikkelsen

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