Dustin Penner was victorious in his first return to his former team after signing a lucrative offer sheet with the Edmonton Oilers this past summer. In a move hinting at no resentment towards Penner, Dustin was given his Stanley Cup ring in (Duck’s) coach Randy Carlyle’s office by current Duck owners Henry and Susan Samueli as well as GM Brian Burke. Penner was booed by fans when his name appeared on the Jumbotron early in the evening, but admitted that he somewhat expected the boos and wasn’t fazed by it.

Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry scored for Anaheim who were once again missing key players such as Ryan Getzlaf, Rob Niedermayer, Todd Bertuzzi and Mathieu Schneider. Ales Hemsky scored for the Oilers while Andrew Cogliano scored the tying goal while short-handed late in the  game to send the teams to overtime.  With no more scoring, the teams faced off in a shootout that won the game and extra point for the Oil. Ales Hemsky and rookie Sam Gagner both beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who hasn’t had a great shootout record in the past.

Anaheim finally started geting some heavy-traffic shots on net but Phoenix goaltender Alex Auld kept his focus and denied the Ducks for his third career shutout. Newcomer Craig Weller had his first goal of the season for Phoenix off a lucky bounce, which trickled by Ilya Bryzgalov, but it stood up and proved to be enough to take the game and the two points.

Anaheim, who are struggling with injuries to key players, dropped their third game in a row. The Coyotes won just their second game against the Ducks in Anaheim in their last eleven tries.

Paul Kariya, who was once known as the face of the Ducks’ franchise, certainly didn’t go easy on his former team. Kariya had a goal and three assists to power the Blues past the Ducks, by a score of 4-2. Linemates Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyes also had a great night, with Tkachuk scoring to tie the game in the second after Anaheim jumped out to a 1-0 lead and Boyes adding another two goals to complete the scoring.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere was in nets for the Ducks who lost their second straight game. Andy McDonald opened the scoring and Mark Mowers had the other goal for the offensively-challenged Ducks. Anaheim remained winless on the road this season.

Three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking a vacation to Europe with one of my destinations being the O2 arena for the Anaheim Ducks’ season opener against the Los Angeles Kings. Although I had hoped to have posted this while it was still fresh in my mind, getting back to reality and work after a week away took up the majority of my time lately. As they say, better late then never though I guess.

While I await my friend Steve to send me the photos and videos from our trip and the game to put up on the site, words will have to do for now.

We arrived in London after two days of hard partying in Amsterdam and little sleep. We hopped a train to Victoria station and discovered the wonderful (note: sarcasm) exchange rate of the USD to British Pound. Arriving at Victoria, we got some information on a decent hotel in the area and attempted to find it. Lugging our suitcases with us, we wandered in circles as people had never heard of it. Eventually, we found it a much further walk than anticipated and checked in.

We decided to head out right away to see the city. We quickly mastered the “Tubes” (subway system) to get around. There was a LOT of walking involved and by the time 3-4pm hit, we had probably walked all over London and back. We got ready to head to the O2 arena and the game. I had never seen the Ducks live before, despite being a long-time fan. I was excited.

Arriving at our destination, I was impressed at the O2 arena complex. A state-of-the-art structure, it housed many restaurants, clubs and shopping. We grabbed a few beers each and made the way to our seats. My first though was, despite being in the nose-bleed section, I could see the ice perfectly clear. No obstructions and the view was great. Better than quite a few North American arenas I have been in. The crowd was a giant mass of every hockey jersey every produced. From little-known European teams, to every NHL team’s vintage jerseys, fans seemed to be in attendance from everywhere. Not because they were Ducks or Kings fans, but because they were hockey fans.

The game got delayed a good 15 minutes due to lighting problems but eventually got underway. “God Save the Queen” and the American national anthem were played and the players were out and ready to go. The Ducks started off very slow, much to my disappointment. Perhaps they hit one pub too many during their week in London.

Every intermission brought more beer and the crowd riled up, begging for fights. We almost had a few Brits who were sitting beside us really get into it with some visiting Slovakians. The Ducks lost,4-1, as you know by now but it was still a great time and experience. I’d definitely say the NHL achieved their objective with the NHL Premiere initiative.

We headed downstairs to grab some food and drinks and pondered where might be the best bet to catch the players after-party. In the end though, we were so exhausted from our touring that we barely made it back to our hotel and passed out around 10pm. In retrospect, the rest was a good move as we flew the next morning out to Munich, Germany for the final nights of Octoberfest.

On a final note, I have been lagging with updating the blog but now that things are back on track following my vacation, I’ll try and be more on top of things.

Dallas was determined not to let the Ducks’ modest winning streak extend to three games at their expense. They built up an early lead and stuck with it, beating Anaheim 3-1.

After giving up 3 goals in just 11 shots, Carlyle replaced Giguere with backup Ilya Bryzgalov. The coach wasn’t blaming his goaltender, however:

‘We hung our goalie out to dry. We were looking for some kind of spark.”

Chris Pronger had a powerplay goal in the third period that was too little, too late for the Ducks. Dallas got goals from Jere Lehtinen, Brendan Morrow and Mike Ribeiro. Ribeiro and Lehtinen each picked up an assist as well.

While Anaheim can’t be enjoying missing key players early in their season, they can at least take solace in the fact their kids are stepping up. Kent Huskins scored his first NHL goal against Detroit the other night and seems to have set an example for fellow youngsters Drew Miller and Petteri Wirtanen. Both had goals against the Predators in the win. Corey Perry also scored with under a minute left in the first period as the Ducks’ won their second game in a row, 3-1.

Ryan Suter spoiled Giguere’s shutout bid. Giguere finished with 28 saves in his second start coming back from sports hernia surgery. George Parros showed some skills besides sticking up for his teammates as it was his great pass that led to Wirtanen’s goal.

It wasn’t easy. The depleted Ducks team played host to a hot Red Wings team, led by young superstar Henrik Zetterberg, but managed to overcome the odds and win the game in the third period by capitalizing on their chances. Samuel Pahlsson scored short-handed in the third period to seal the deal for Anaheim. Five other Ducks’ players, Kent Huskins (with his first NHL goal), Andy McDonald, Chris Kunitz, Corey Perry and Sean O’Donnell (empty net) found themselves on the score sheet. Ryan Getzlaf notched three assists.

Anaheim was without injured players Todd Bertuzzi (concussion) and Todd Marchant (ankle). Starter Jean-Sebastien Giguere rested after playing against Minnesota last night. Mathieu Schneider is another two or three weeks away from making his Anaheim debut and the futures of superstars Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer have yet to be decided as both contemplate retirement.

Kris Draper, Henrik Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski replied for Detroit in a losing battle. Zetterberg has points in every Red Wings game this season and leads the NHL currently.

The team expects Bertuzzi to be out at least a week with what is labeled a ‘minor concussion’. Bertuzzi suffered the injury during the Ducks’ loss to the Minnesota Wild last night.

As with all concussions, they are taken very seriously and players are not rushed back to action. A player must show he is symptom-free for seven consecutive days before he can resume playing.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s return was not a successful one as the Ducks fell to undefeated Minnesota by a score of 2-0. Josh Harding outplayed Giguere, stopping 37 shots for the win and the shutout.

The game was hard-fought and chippy, with George Parros scoring a TKO on Wild heavyweight Derek Boogaard in the second period. The Ducks eliminated Minnesota in last year’s playoffs en route to their Stanley Cup win.

Mark Parrish and Brian Rolston supplied the Wild’s offense.

Ryan Getzlaf, Francois Beauchemin and the rest of the Ducks kept the opening night festivities going with a win over the visiting Boston Bruins. Beauchemin had the game-winner in a 2-1 Ducks victory, the only meeting between the teams this season. Manny Fernandez was not in nets for the Bruins, but Tim Thomas wasn’t to blame and in fact was the only reason the score was as close as it was. Boston only fired 18 shots at Ducks netminder Ilya Brygalov.

Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne were present for the game as well as the ceremony and banner-raising honoring the team for their Stanley Cup championship win.

Pittsburgh made fans look twice, not once but two times throughout the game scoring goals 20 and 19 seconds apart including the game winner late in the 3rd period. Former Duck Petr Sykora led the offensive charge, tallying two goals and an assist much to the roar of the crowd in the Penguins’ home debut.

Colby Armstrong, Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Malone - on a sweet play by Sidney Crosby who beat Chris Pronger with the puck -  had the other Penguin goals. Anaheim wouldn’t give up though and got their goals from Ryan Getzlaf, Francois Beauchemin and a pair by Chris Kunitz that Beauchemin assisted on. The fatigue of the London trip and starting the season on the road showed and the Ducks were happy to be heading home. Asked for comment about what the players had in mind for the plane ride home, Chris Pronger had the following insight to share:

“Sleep. We’re too tired to get angry.”

The Ducks try to break their losing streak when they open at home against Boston on Wednesday.

After starting the season a Duck and scoring his first NHL goal, top Ducks’ prospect Bobby Ryan has been sent back to his AHL team the Portland Pirates. Drew Miller and Jason King were recalled to the pro squad.

Ryan led all Ducks’ players in the pre-season with a goal and five assists. It is expected he may be recalled later this season after building his confidence in the AHL, the same path taken with current young stars Ryan getzlaf and Corey Perry in their rookie campaigns.

Rick Nash had a career-best four point night (2 goals, 2 assists) and Pascal Leclaire shut down the Ducks on 28 shots to record the shutout and the victory for the Jackets. Anaheim seemed to be weary and disorganized in their play, perhaps stemming from their trip to England to begin the season. They wouldn’t use that as an excuse though:

“They came at us right from the start of the game,” forward Ryan Getzlaf said of the Blue Jackets. ”We weren’t prepared for it. We did a lot of things tonight and none of them were the right ones.”

The Ducks hope to play a tighter game against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in Pittsburgh before finally returning home to play their first game at the Honda Centre this season on Wednesday against Boston.

Though the Ducks managed just 15 shots in regulation, they still took Detroit to the extra period and the shootout, where Wings’ netminder Dominik Hasek stopped all three Ducks’ attempts and youngster Jiri Hudler scored to give Detroit the win and extra point.

Todd Bertuzzi played strong against the team he joined late last season, scoring a goal and assisting on the other. Bryzgalov turned in a much better performance than in the season opener, making 40 saves to earn the Ducks at least one point. Holmstrom and Zetterberg scored for Detroit in regulation.

While Scott Niedermayer still sits back and contemplates his playing career, the Ducks have started the season and need to move on. Randy Carlyle has named stud defenseman Chris Pronger as the new team captain. The team, meanwhile, support the decision and recognize the need to move forward.

What if Niedermayer does return during the season? Chris Pronger will remain captain.

”Scotty knows. We’ve talked to him about the fact we needed to move on. I said, `Scotty, this is no slight to you.’ And he agreed with us 100 per cent.’” said Carlyle.