Jean Sebastien Giguere

Jean-Sebastien Giguere is not the overnight sensation some people might think. Living in Calgary, where he used to play, I have been watching him for many years. I have seen where he was and I have seen where he has gone. His success is based purely on hard work. When he was in Calgary, he realized he had a long way to go to be a good NHL goaltender. He was willing to listen and put in the work to get to the next level. And then, he was willing to continue to work hard to get to where he is now.

The crowd at the Bell Centre today will roar for one of its own, the hometown kid who made it big in the NHL and brought the Stanley Cup back to Montreal -- though only for a visit -- in the summer of 2007. But when the starters are announced for today's All-Star game and Jean-Sebastien Giguere's name is called for the West, the Ducks' goaltender will be looking for someone who is not there, listening for a voice that was silenced too soon.

1 The goaltending competition between Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Hiller will have a ripple effect. If Hiller prevails, the Ducks will have to ask Giguere to waive his no-trade clause because they can't take a $6-million salary cap hit this season and next for a backup. He could be attractive to teams whose goalies are hurt or struggling. 2 Their defense lost its meanness when they traded Chris Pronger and lost Francois Beauchemin to free agency. James Wisniewski can level people, but he can't be the only one. Luca Sbisa is an up-and-comer, but he's only 19 and has 39 games' NHL experience.

Andrew Brunette's power-play goal in overtime lifted the Wild to a 4-3 win over the Ducks on Tuesday night in Minnesota's home opener. Trailing, 3-0, with less than 14 minutes to play in the third period, the Wild got goals from Mikko Koivu, Petr Sykora and Eric Belanger to send the game to overtime. The Ducks got second-period goals from Joffrey Lupul, Evgeny Artyukhin and Saku Koivu, but were held to only two shots in the third period. Looking to bounce back after losing to San Jose, 4-1, at the Honda Center on Saturday, the Ducks instead let a seemingly secure lead slip away.

It is getting late to say it's early. Eight games into the season, the Ducks haven't found themselves, and their spurt of focused effort in the third period of a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday at the Honda Center wasn't enough. "We didn't start playing until the third period. That's not acceptable in this league," center Ryan Getzlaf said. "We tried to put a game together in 20 minutes. It's 60." Shut out in two of their previous three games, the Ducks fell behind, 3-0, before rallying to cut the lead to one goal when Joffrey Lupul scored at 8:35 of the third.

The Ducks went down again Saturday, and so did goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The way the puck bounced in the Ducks' 6-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it's hard to say if it's good news or bad that the team they play Monday is the winless Toronto Maple Leafs. "When you're going through a stretch like we're going through right now, it seems like when something has a chance to go wrong, it's going wrong," Coach Randy Carlyle said. The Ducks lost their third consecutive game at the Honda Center, and are left to wonder about the status of Giguere, who has been bothered by a nagging groin injury and left the game with 3:22 remaining after giving up the winning goal on Fedor Tyutin's hurried shot from the blue line just as the puck was about to clear the zone.

Ducks tonight VS. VANCOUVER When: 7. Where: Honda Center. On the air: Radio: 830. Records: Ducks 3-6-1, Canucks 6-6-0. Record vs. Canucks (2008-09): 2-1-1. Update: The Ducks have lost their last four games, falling to previously winless Toronto on Monday. Once worried about their power play and an offense that was shut out twice in three games, they also must fret about a struggling penalty-killing unit and a defense that has given up 21 goals in the last four games.