Throwdown Lowdown – Ducks @ Blues 1-23-10

Ty Conklin's mustache and awesome hat, shown because it's frickin' awesome! Image via stlouisgametime.com on SB Nation

You didn’t expect THAT picture to be attached to this article, did you?  It’s OK.  Ty Conklin is going to become a bigger cult hero than Chris Mason of the bearded days.  But don’t mark my words on that yet.

As expected, there was a fight in the Blues-Senators game on Thursday.  And said fight involved two eager contestants – the massive Matt Carkner against the violent Cam Janssen.  Result?  Well, draw your own conclusions.  I called it a draw, but a slight majority of Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights voters picked Carkner as the winner.  When I say “slight majority” . . . we’re talking less than 10 percentage points, and vote-wise, it went Janssen 9, Carkner 12, Draw 10.  That just tells you how even it was.  The Blues hold the 5th spot in number of fights league-wide with 42.  Their overall record is a robust 20-12-10.  Nice work, boys!  Winning games is nice, but winning fights is fun too!

We won’t say much about the Anaheim Ducks and their fighters because, honestly, we’ve done this recap before . . . back on January 7th.  Massive winger George Parros is still the main fighter on this squad, but in the previous matchup he got the long view from the owner’s box.  However, he played Thursday against the Sharks and lost to Ryane Clowe, who STILL holds a spotless record for the season.  Parros is now 2-6-6 on the season, but seriously . . . he could spill the blood of others at any moment.  As a team, the Ducks are tied for 2nd with Philadelphia in number of fights, with 47.  Their overall record is 9-16-22.

Other season record updates for the Ducks in the 16 days since the last tilt . . . Kyle Chipchura is now 2-2-2, Troy Bodie is now 0-1-2 and popping onto the radar screen are the likes of defenseman Sheldon Brookbank (6’2″, 215lbs, 1-2-2), defenseman Nick Boynton (6’2″, 220lbs, 0-1-2) and Team Canada centerman Ryan Getzlaf (6’4″, 221lbs, 0-1-1 . . . notice the Team Canada emphasis).  Mike Brown remains steady at 1-2-3.  Another guy to look out for is massive Russian winger Evgeny Artyukhin (6’5″, 270lbs), who at that size should be a goaltender like Vladikov from that old Amstel Light commercial.  He’s only been in one fight this season, and predictably, he won that fight.

The Blues are 2-0-0 in fights with the Ducks, both at Anaheim – BJ Crombeen over Mike Brown on October 17th and David Backes over Corey Perry on January 7th.

Backes was held out of the lineup on Thursday due to an upper body issue.  If he plays, well . . . you know EXACTLY what the dream matchup is – Backes in a rematch with Perry or against a more size-even Getzlaf.  Team Canada will eat fists before they get to Vancouver!  If there’s no Backes for a second straight game, anticipate a tilt between Janssen and Parros, which would be a dandy for sure.

It’s two of the top-five punchiest teams in the National Hockey League . . . time for them to show it, and time for the Blues to capture a fourth consecutive home victory!

LET’S GO BLUES!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights.