AVS GAMEDAY PRIMER: Anaheim Ducks, 2/27/12

The Good Guys: Win over Detroit? IN Detroit? Me gusta. That's 3 in a row, and 4 of the last 5. Beating teams like Edmonton and Detroit, who are either comfortably out of the playoffs or comfortably in the playoffs, and beating teams like Los Angeles and Anaheim that are in direct competition with you for a playoff spot, are two entirely different stories. Tonight is a big one.

Bunch Of Dicks Ducks: Anaheim has won some ridiculous number of games since the New Year rolled around, they're something like 92-3. The fact that they're still scuffling in this 5 team dogpack for the final playoff spot says much about how bad the Ducks were at the beginning of the season. Despite the Ducks' recent streak, this is a team the Avs match up to well, and accordingly must take two points from.

We Like: The contributions from today's trade deadline departees, Daniel Winnik and TJ Galiardi. Winnik is a hard worker, a guy who busted his ass for the Avs every shift. He's going to be a valuable piece for the Sharks in the playoffs. Galiardi was maybe the most representative player of the Avs' Jeckyl-And-Hyde ways: sometimes he was invisible and completely uninvolved in the games, skating around the perimeter and fighting the puck. Other times, he was fully vested, and made a real difference on the ice, and nowhere was that more the case than the 2010 playoff series against San Jose, where Galiardi was a constant nuisance to the Sharks' skilled players. Colorado's hot December had much to do with an improved Galiardi, who gave the Avs snarl and skill for the entire month. The problem with Galiardi was his performance in January, which got him back in Joe Sacco's doghouse. Wishing both guys success with the Sharks.

We Don't Like: I'm not about to start complaining in the middle of a good streak. Keep up the good work, gentlemen.

Randomly: I'm guessing today's Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian trade is to even out the karma the Canucks took advantage of in obtaining Markus Naslund for Alek Stojanov 16 years ago? Because the similarities are uncanny. Kassian is a bag of meat. Buffalo wins that trade handily, in my opinion.

Potential Hero: Landeskog-O'Reilly-Downie is the best line in hockey right now, and is the pick for tonight's potential heroes. Does Sacco match these guys against the Ducks' big unit? I'd like to see it.

Potential Goat: Hey, we're all positivity tonight, right? NO GOATS.

Final Thought: Aw shit, Kevin Porter is gonna be in the lineup tonight, isn't he? (ed.: Sanity prevails, he will not play.) So much for positivity.

Ducks 3, Avs 2