Open mouth, insert skates

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The Ducks’ game against the Bruins today at Boston was among the few not televised, an unfortunate bit of timing because the game featured the Ducks debut of Ryan Whitney, acquired this morning from Pittsburgh for Chris Kunitz and power forward prospect Eric Tangradi.

If the Ducks had been televising the game, their announcers might have avoided the gaffe that New England Sports Network analyst Andy Brickley made early in the broadcast.

While he and play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards discussed whether Whitney knew he was about to be traded, Brickley asserted Whitney knew because he was in Boston at the time of the deal. The Penguins must have allowed him to return to his hometown to gather his belongings, Brickley said.

Except that’s not the reason Whitney was in Boston.

According to the Ducks, Whitney was there to support his mother, Sue, as she underwent successful brain surgery Wednesday.

Big difference there.

Whitney, incidentally, was paired with Chris Pronger in the first period. A late goal left the Ducks trailing, 1-0.

--Helene Elliott