ShareThisBy GREGG PATTON
The Press-Enterprise
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Hockey Universe is just going to have to deal with it.
The Anaheim Ducks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The team that couldn't get a decent shot off somehow managed to put a few in the net anyway.
The team that couldn't stay out of the penalty box somehow managed to kill the minutes when they had to.
The team that couldn't keep up with the flashy Detroit Red Wings _ the darlings of the national broadcast media _ somehow shut the Wings down over the six-game series.
And with a Western Conference championship clinching victory at Honda Center Tuesday night, the Ducks earned the right to annoy and confound their critics for another two weeks or so.
Somewhere between the end of the regular season, in which the Ducks proved themselves among the NHL elite, and a few games into the Detroit series, Anaheim's team turned into Detroit's bobo. At least that's what you would have thought had you had your ears glued to your television speakers the past couple of games.
Sure, their 4-3 win ended with them holding on for their dear cup lives, most of a 3-0 lead having disappeared in a flurry of Anaheim penalties and a sudden burst of offensive energy by the game Red Wings.
But when it was over, an elated crowd of orange towel-waving fans celebrated, not caring a whit about how it happened.
Nor did the Ducks care much about the dismissive remarks made about their style or where they stood on the NBC, Versus and ESPN lucky meter.
"I don't think anybody worries about what the media says _ good or bad," Ducks veteran defenseman Chris Pronger said. "We just care what the other guys in the locker room think."
Center Ryan Getzlaf said it wasn't an issue, either.
"The guys in here didn't talk much about it," he said. "Things were said. Whatever. We just wanted to play our best game."
As a matter of fact, they did _ for two periods, at least. They were out-shot decisively by the Wings in Games 4 and 5, but the Ducks won those contests anyway, sparking some of the criticism.
Tuesday night, however, the Ducks took the play away from the speedy Wings, fore checking with authority and keeping the puck forward.
Over the first two periods, they took 26 shots on goal to Detroit's 13, and looked like they would cruise with a 3-0 lead into their second Stanley Cup Finals in four years.
Typically, though, they weren't going to make it easy on themselves. Detroit scored just 3:15 into the last period to make it 3-1. Even after Ducks grinding forward Sammy Pahlsson answered less than three minutes later by scoring at the end of a three-on-two break, to make it 4-1, there was plenty of time left for a chiller-theatre finish.
"It felt good at the time," said Pahlsson of his goal. "But they've got a good power play and they just kept coming."
Whether the officials made sure the Ducks would have to fight for their Finals berth, or the Ducks got a little careless is probably in the eye of the beholder. In any case, the Ducks were whistled for three minors in the second half of the period, setting up a dramatic finish.
Detroit's pesky Pavel Datsyuk scored twice on power plays, the second with 3:04 left, to trim the lead to 4-3.
Cue the sweaty palms, the heavy breathing and the stopping hearts. And not just among the 17,380 people in the stands, either.
"I was so nervous out there," said 36-year-old Teemu Selanne, who gets to play in his first Stanley Cup Finals after 14 seasons, and appeared to still be recovering from the jitters 15 minutes after it was over. "It was the scariest 20 minutes of my life.
"What a thriller."
Pahlsson said he was lucky because he spent much of the last five minutes playing.
"I was on the ice," he said. "There's nothing worse than sitting on the bench and watching.
"But it's a nervous thing, coming from a three-goal lead down to one."
Pahlsson said the Ducks' third-period play was like some of their other lesser moments in the postseason, but not that big of a deal.
"It happens in the playoffs," he said. "You don't play a perfect game, but if you can win anyway, that's what matters."
Selanne admitted the Ducks didn't play "a pretty third period, but who cares now?"
I'm guessing some people might, but that's their problem, and theirs alone.
