Detroit 2, Anaheim 1
Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!
No, not the “style” of goaltender Dominik Hasek, who at times looks like a very large catfish that was just landed and still had a hook in his mouth. The two goals his teammates scored.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks in the opener of the Western Conference finals, 2-1, with two ugly power-play goals that looked awfully good to them. On both goals, the puck deflected off Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin, giving the Wings an early series lead. “That’s a freak thing that happens and tonight it happened to us,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.
Both of Detroit’s goals came off bad penalties taken by the Ducks, the NHL’s most penalized team in the regular season. Henrik Zetterberg ‘s shot on a power play deflected off Beauchemin and got past Jean-Sebastien Giguere at 3:44 of the first period and Detroit held on to the lead for nearly two periods.
Chris Kunitz of Anaheim made it 1-all early in the third period with a shot from the slot that beat Dominik Hasek on the glove side, the first goal Hasek had allowed in nearly 157 minutes. “Dom was outstanding,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “Dom shut the door.” Hasek made 31 saves and Giguere stopped 17 shots. “I know one mistake and we lose the game,” said Hasek, who made 13 saves in the final period. “The last three minutes of the game I was exhausted. Maybe I was lucky, but sometimes that’s how you win the game. It was a great defensive effort.” Hasek made a sprawling save on Getzlaf with Anaheim dominating play in the Wings zone with six minutes left in regulation and the score tied at 1.
Tomas Holmstrom scored the winner with 4:54 left when a Nicklas Lidstrom shot caromed off Giguere, then off Holmstrom, then trickled over the line. Holmstrom’s goal came after Ryan Getzlaf was called for slashing Detroit defenseman Brett Lebda in retaliation.
“The only one I can be critical of is Getzlaf’s,” Carlyle said. “It was like he got caught with his hands in a cookie jar.” Getzlaf owned up to his mistake afterward. “I’m sorry that I took a stupid penalty,” he said. “I let my teammates down.”
“That’s how hockey goes,” winger Dustin Penner said. “Sometimes you deserve to win and it doesn’t go your way. Sometimes you deserve to lose and you end up winning. We have a lot of positives to build off of.”
Like if it wasn’t for bad bounces off of a teammates skate, the Ducks may have won this game. UGLY!
Round III: Playoff Summary: May 11, 2007
Posted by Chris Wassel on May 12, 2007 13:33
