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California streaks: Ducks win fifth straight, Sharks keep losing

cperry

Sunday solidified quite a few trends, but it ended with a resounding one: the Anaheim Ducks are the hottest team in California right now.

The Ducks beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 without Ryan Getzlaf’s services to take their fifth victory in a row. They also beefed their standings points edge to three points (31 to 28) in the West and NHL over Colorado and Chicago.*

If you want a symbol of how well things are going for Anaheim, just soak in this goal by Corey Perry:

Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks lost their fifth game in a row, coughing up a 3-1 and 4-3 lead to the Winnipeg Jets to fall 5-4 via the shootout.

The Sharks might kick themselves for leaving points on the table, as they lost one of those five games in OT (4-3 to Los Angeles on Oct. 30) and three of them via shootouts. They’ve only won one of four “skills competitions” so far in 2013-14, which might be surprising for a team as loaded with offensive talent as San Jose is.

Maybe Antti Niemi’s getting a little tired? Either way, the two California teams that were active on Sunday seemed to be going on divergent paths.

* - Although the Ducks have played three more games than the Avs and one more than the Blackhawks to get there.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins