FanHouse J.S. Giguere

Red Wings 8, Oilers 3: Here's a fun fact: at the end of the first period of Saturday's Detroit-Edmonton game, the Red Wings had as many goals (five), as the Oilers had shots. One word can sum this up: domination. The Wings continued to pour it on, completing an 8-3 thrashing of Edmonton at Joe Louis Arena.

It's the second time in just over a week that the Oilers have been on the wrong end of a blowout, getting steamrolled by Buffalo, 10-2, back on January 27. The Oilers have now lost four of six, while the Red Wings extended their modest winning streak to three as they head into their NBC tilt with the Penguins on Sunday.

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

As a western conference cartoonist, it's about time I took a shot at drawing Todd McLellan and Mike Babcock, whose success as head coaches for the San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings will put them behind the western conference bench for this weekend's All Star Game in Montreal. As a disgruntled fan of the Anaheim Ducks, it's also about time I took a shot at the lackluster play of netminder J.S. Giguere, who will start for the Western All-Stars despite winning only one game over the previous five weeks.

It's been a rough stretch for the Minnesota Wild over the past two weeks, and it continued on Sunday as they dropped their fifth in a row -- and sixth in their past seven games -- as they fell to Anaheim, 4-2. During this current losing streak, Minnesota has scored only five goals, and is finding out that it's quite difficult to win every game 1-0.

After overcoming a 2-0 deficit thanks to a pair of goals by Marc-Andre Bergeron and Eric Belanger, the Wild allowed Brendan Morrison and Bobby Ryan to reclaim the lead for the Ducks. From that point on, J.S. Giguere shut the door for Anaheim, as he turned aside 26 shots in the win. The Ducks also received goals from Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, as they won for the third time in their past four games.

Josh Harding received the start in goal for Minnesota, making 30 saves on 34 shots.

The Minnesota Wild are probably the last team you would expect to be involved in a 6-5 game, but, hark, here we are. Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals and picked up an assist for the Avalanche, as they snapped the Wild's modest two-game winning streak on Monday night.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom had what was, perhaps, his worst night of the season, giving up six goals on 26 shots through the first two periods. He didn't come back out for the third, as Josh Harding took over and stopped all five shots he faced in the defeat.

For the Avalanche, Peter Budaj gave up five goals of his own on 17 shots, as Minnesota picked up goals from Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2), Owen Nolan, Mikko Koivu, and Brent Burns.

Bouchard scored his second goal of the game just 22 seconds into the second period, giving Minnesota a brief 3-2 lead. Just three minutes later, Stastny picked up his first, as the Avalanche would fill the net three more times in the period, ultimately chasing Backstrom from the game.

Minnesota head coach Jacques Lemaire called the first 40 minutes the worst two periods he had seen, as Colorado was not only leading 6-4, but also holding a commanding 26-12 edge in shots on goal.

After coming up short in his first two games as an NHL head coach, Rick Tocchet earned his first win on Friday night when his Tampa Bay Lightning defeated Nashville, 4-1. The Lightning entered the game having lost five in a row, and seven of their past eight.

Vincent Lecavalier picked up a pair of goals in the first period, while Ryan Malone recorded three assists. Malone, who had missed the previous four games for Tampa Bay, entered play on Friday with just three goals (and no assists) on the season. He eventually left the game in the second period for what the Lightning called "precautionary reasons."

Mark Recchi and Vaclav Prospal also tallied goals in the win.

Nashville held a commanding 35-24 edge in the shots department, but could never solve Lightning goalie Mike Smith, who continued his rock-solid play in net turning aside 34 shots. Dan Ellis, suffering through a sophomore slump of sorts for Nashville, struggled once again, giving up four goals in the games first 26 minutes.

Facing 35 shots isn't anything new for Smith, seeing as how Tampa Bay is allowing a league-high 35 shots on goal per game. Thus far, the 26-year old Smith, acquired as part of the Brad Richards trade at last year's trade deadline, has been up to the challenge registering a .929 save percentage.

After a brutal start to the year, involving a fair mix of Stanley Cup hangover, intercontinental flights, semi-retirements, and injury, it finally appears that the Anaheim Ducks have started to right their ship. The team has won six of its last eight games to pull itself back into the early western playoff picture, but probably the most amazing part is that they've won four straight shootouts in that stretch.

You have to understand -- since its lockout-inspired invention, the Ducks have been the league's best team at losing shootouts. They lost 7 of 10 shootouts in 05-06, 10 of 14 last year, and even their first two this season. Their 19 shootout losses lead all franchises, and before this month they had never won consecutive shootouts.

Certainly some of the blame has to fall on goaltenders J.S. Giguere and now-departed Ilya Bryzgalov. Before this month, opponents had scored 27 goals on 72 attempts on Jiggy (37.5%) and 7 goals on 16 attempts on Breezy (43.8%), better than one in three on each.

Ducks shooters weren't very supportive, though, only winning 3 of 12 shootouts when the opponent scored a single goal and never winning the 10 times an opponent scored twice or more. Apparently Giguere has taken that lesson to heart, as he has stopped all 10 shooters that he's seen this month.