Red Wings Toast
Jiggy and the Anaheim Ducks held off the Detroit Red Wings to earn a second trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere shut out Detroit for the first two periods as Anaheim built a 3-0 lead, then withstood a three-goal outburst by the Red Wings in the closing period to take a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.
Samuel Pahlsson’s goal with 14:06 remaining proved to be the difference for Anaheim, which meets Ottawa in the Stanley Cup finals.
Rob Niedermayer, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf also scored against Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek as the Ducks downed the Red Wings to take the Western Conference finals 4-2.
The Ducks and Senators, both looking for their first NHL championship, meet in Game 1 Monday night in Anaheim.
Giguere finished with 26 saves. Hasek had 25.
The Red Wings outshot the Ducks 16-3 in the third period and got one goal from Henrik Zetterberg and two – both on power plays – from Pavel Datsyuk, the last with 3:04 remaining.
The Ducks played for the Stanley Cup in 2003, when New Jersey defeated them in Game 7. Giguere was the MVP of the playoffs.
He is one of only four players remaining from that Anaheim team, which also has had a change of owners, front-office personnel and coaches. Niedermayer, who had a goal and assist in the clincher against Detroit; Andy McDonald and Pahlsson are the only others still with the Ducks.
The team also dropped the “Mighty” from their name after Henry and Susan Samueli bought the franchise from the Walt Disney Co. in June 2005. The coach in 2003, Mike Babcock, is now the Detroit coach, and Randy Carlyle is the Ducks’ coach.
by: Gary Roberts – theSpread.com – Email Us
More NHL Hockey coverage from theSpread.com
– NHL Hockey news wire
– NHL top stories
– Current NHL injuries
– NHL Hockey schedule
– NHL Hockey standings
– NHL goalie stats
– NHL Hockey scoreboard
– NHL Hockey odds
– NHL public betting charts
– Expert NHL Picks
– Comments and discussion
– Signup for theSpread.com daily newsletter
– NHL Home
