Ducks dump Detroit, advance to Cup final
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 | 1:46 AM ET
CBC Sports
For a change, Anaheim's Kid Line bailed out veteran goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to lead the Ducks to their second Stanley Cup appearance in five years.
Goalless in their previous three road games, the trio of Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner and Corey Perry shone again on home ice, combining for three points in a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
Ducks' Teemu Selanne, left, congratulates Ryan Getzlaf after he scored during the second period.
(Chris Carlson/Associated Press)
Getzlaf led the way with a goal and an assist as Anaheim prevailed 4-2 in the best-of-seven NHL Western Conference final.
The Ducks will meet the Ottawa Senators in the Cup final, with Game 1 set for May 28 (CBC, 7:30 p.m. ET).
"It was a big game. We were pretty excited," Getzlaf told CBC's Scott Oake, referring to his line, which had three points in a 5-3 Game 4 win.
"Dustin came out with his best effort of the playoffs probably and when he's going he's a force out there."
Getzlaf added he wasn't sure what enabled the threesome to have such a stellar showing. They each finished with a plus-1 rating and combined for six shots, five hits and two blocked shots.
Anaheim last played for the Cup in 2003, when it lost in seven games to the New Jersey Devils.
Giguere, who stopped 36 shots in Games 4 and 5 against Detroit, made 26 saves to improve his record to 6-2 in nine series-clinching games.
Wings made it interesting
The Red Wings didn't go quietly as Pavel Datsyuk scored two power-play goals in the second half of the third period to cut into a 4-1 Anaheim lead.
But solid play from Giguere and a strong Ducks penalty-kill in the final minutes of regulation with Travis Moen in the box for hooking sealed the victory.
"I think we kind of sat back a little bit too much at the start of the third period, let them come at us," said Getzlaf, who will be appearing in his first Stanley Cup final. "It [caused] us to take a few penalties we didn't want to take."
Rob Niedermayer, Samuel Pahlsson and Perry had the other goals for Anaheim, a perfect 11-0 when it scores two or more goals in the 2007 playoffs.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Ducks right-winger Teemu Selanne, who failed to win a Stanley Cup in his previous 14 NHL seasons. "It took a long time to even have a chance to win something big. Hopefully the biggest one is still coming."
Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring for Detroit at 3:15 of the third period, while Mikael Samuelsson counted three assists.
Dominik Hasek had another stellar performance in the Red Wings net, making 25 saves and keeping his team in the game with the Ducks dominating the first period.
The home side came out full of energy following its 2-1 overtime win Sunday in Detroit and established a strong forecheck, led by Getzlaf, Penner and Perry.
"We didn't want to go back to Detroit," said Selanne. "You never know what can happen. This was our barn, our fans, our chance."
Niedermayer got credit for Anaheim's first goal — a shorthanded marker — when a Chris Pronger shot from the point deflected off his leg and past Hasek, who was standing about three feet above his crease.
After Pahlsson won a draw cleanly back to Sean O'Donnell, the Ducks' defenceman dished a cross-ice pass to Pronger, who one-timed a shot towards the Detroit net.
"Detroit plays high [in its own zone] and is hard on the defence, so when I get it a lot of the times I'm able to slide [the puck] across to Chris and he's got that heavy shot," O'Donnell told Oake. "We've been working on it all year and tonight was the first time it [resulted in a goal] so we couldn't have picked a better time."
Took 3-0 lead
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said some early mistakes cost his team.
"They got a short-handed goal early and I thought we lost our composure a little bit," said Babcock. "I think we wanted to win so bad it got in the way of our poise and our execution."
After Perry scored his fourth of the playoffs midway through the second period, Getzlaf gave Anaheim a seemingly comfortable 3-0 lead at the 18:33 mark when he pounced on a loose puck at the side of the Detroit crease and lifted a backhander into an open net.
The middle period had presented numerous problems for the Ducks earlier in the series as Detroit began Tuesday's contest having outscored its opponent 5-0.
But it was the Ducks who scored twice and held a 12-6 edge in shots this time around.
Less than three minutes after Zetterberg made it 3-1 early in the third period, Pahlsson restored the three-goal lead with his second goal of this year's post-season.
With files from the Canadian Press
