ANAHEIM, Calif. — As the final seconds of a fantastic season swirled down the drain of an awful week, the Minnesota Wild poured over the boards one more time, with nowhere to go.
There would be no more shifts to skate, no more games to play. With heads hung but pride still intact, they lined up for the traditional handshake with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who were on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their 10-year history.
For the Wild, it was over.
Adam Oates' two power-play goals, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere's 24 saves, lifted Anaheim to a 2-1 series-clinching victory Friday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
The Ducks completed their second sweep of this postseason, having dispatched the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the first round. They await the winner of the Ottawa-New Jersey Eastern Conference finals. The Devils lead that series 2-1 with Game 4 today in East Rutherford, N.J.
After roaring back from 3-1 deficits to upset Colorado and Vancouver in the first two rounds, the Wild simply ran out of offense, options and gas, butting heads with the greatest playoff goaltender to emerge on the scene since Patrick Roy in Montreal 17 years ago.
The baton has been passed to Giguere, whose acts of robbery throughout the postseason, and in particular this series, have left opponents and experts shaking their heads in disbelief.
"It's sort of mixed emotions right now,'' Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "It's very, very disappointing to go out and come up empty. But there's a feeling that we did accomplish a lot as a hockey team. We left it all out there. We just didn't score enough goals.''
In the end, the Wild ran out of offense, options and gas, skating off the same sheet of ice on which they christened the season 238 days ago with an exhibition tie at The Pond.
That game, played in front of a handful of Southern Californians who still were a month away from celebrating the Anaheim Angels' World Series victory, launched the Ducks and the Wild on their surreal journeys from expansion punks to playoff studs.
At that time, no one in the hockey world could have known that one of those two teams skating anonymously on that September night would represent the West for a chance to sip from the Stanley Cup.
Minnesota finished 8-10 in its inaugural postseason. But the Wild didn't go without a fight. After pulling goalie Manny Fernandez in the final minute, they had several good scoring chances, but could not dent Giguere.
"We had a great, great season,'' Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "These guys battled in the playoffs. We weren't supposed to win one game. We started to get confidence by winning the first game and believe that maybe we could win two, three or four. We did that for two series, but as soon as we got here, it seemed like the breaks were on one side."
The Wild exorcised two demons with one blow four minutes into the game. Ruslan Salei pile-drove Darby Hendrickson into the ice to draw a holding penalty, putting the Wild on the power play.
Despite possessing the No. 1-ranked unit in the playoffs, they were 0 for 12 against the Ducks in this series and 0 for 22 this season. And they still were dealing with Giguere's mind games.
Minnesota spent most of its practice Thursday concentrating on getting at least two bodies in front of the goaltender. Andrew Brunette made the play when it counted.
Parked to Giguere's left with Jim Dowd screening in the slot, Brunette redirected Cliff Ronning's point shot off the far post to put the Wild on the scoreboard for the first time since they last visited Vancouver.
One could hear the yelps of joy and relief from the Minnesota bench until the sold-out crowd rose and applauded as one in a hearty salute to the phenomenon known as Jiggy.
Brunette's goal yanked the plug on Giguere's maddening shutout meter, which stopped at 217 minutes, 54 seconds — the fifth-longest postseason shutout streak in NHL history.
"We never believed we were out of it,'' Hendrickson said. "It was a great feeling on the bench. You could feel the momentum, but to their credit, they came back quickly.''
The Wild's lead lasted less than four minutes, though, as the bad luck switched from offense to defense when a Filip Kuba hooking penalty gave the Ducks their own power play.
Oates tied the score by swatting a bouncing puck past Fernandez. Anaheim's dump-in pinballed behind the net, off Andrei Zyuzin's skate to Mike Leclerc. His centering pass ricocheted off Brad Bombardir in the crease right to Oates for an easy whack.
"They had the best power play in the playoffs coming in, and they got one and we got two,'' Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "Dallas had three in the series, and we got four. Detroit got two, and we got two as our guys stepped out of the box. It sounds to me like specialty teams have been pretty good for us.''
Both teams had bang-bang opportunities near the end of the period, but were denied by goal posts.
Samuel Pahlsson shoveled one off the pipe during a scrum in front of Fernandez. Moments later, Bombardir cut in from the point and snapped Brunette's feed off the iron to Giguere's right.
Entering the series, little attention was given the Anaheim power play and for good reason. It was awful. Three games later, it was worse. The Ducks were 4 for 49 (8 percent) with the man advantage heading into Game 4. But they rediscovered it Friday night, and it became another sharp stone in the Wild's shoe.
Midway through the period, with Nick Schultz in the box for tripping Rob Niedermayer, Oates pounced on some more loose change in front of Fernandez and cashed in.
Leclerc's centering pass bounced off Niedermayer and a scrambling Kuba on the doorstep, where Oates pulled it out of the stew of sticks and skates and poked it past Fernandez to put Anaheim up 2-1 at 9:31.
Seconds later, with the Wild still in a fog, Fernandez kept hope alive when he stretched out a pad to deny Leclerc's stuff at the left post, leaving Minnesota within striking distance entering the final 20 minutes.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/5882713.htm
There would be no more shifts to skate, no more games to play. With heads hung but pride still intact, they lined up for the traditional handshake with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who were on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their 10-year history.
For the Wild, it was over.
Adam Oates' two power-play goals, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere's 24 saves, lifted Anaheim to a 2-1 series-clinching victory Friday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
The Ducks completed their second sweep of this postseason, having dispatched the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the first round. They await the winner of the Ottawa-New Jersey Eastern Conference finals. The Devils lead that series 2-1 with Game 4 today in East Rutherford, N.J.
After roaring back from 3-1 deficits to upset Colorado and Vancouver in the first two rounds, the Wild simply ran out of offense, options and gas, butting heads with the greatest playoff goaltender to emerge on the scene since Patrick Roy in Montreal 17 years ago.
The baton has been passed to Giguere, whose acts of robbery throughout the postseason, and in particular this series, have left opponents and experts shaking their heads in disbelief.
"It's sort of mixed emotions right now,'' Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "It's very, very disappointing to go out and come up empty. But there's a feeling that we did accomplish a lot as a hockey team. We left it all out there. We just didn't score enough goals.''
In the end, the Wild ran out of offense, options and gas, skating off the same sheet of ice on which they christened the season 238 days ago with an exhibition tie at The Pond.
That game, played in front of a handful of Southern Californians who still were a month away from celebrating the Anaheim Angels' World Series victory, launched the Ducks and the Wild on their surreal journeys from expansion punks to playoff studs.
At that time, no one in the hockey world could have known that one of those two teams skating anonymously on that September night would represent the West for a chance to sip from the Stanley Cup.
Minnesota finished 8-10 in its inaugural postseason. But the Wild didn't go without a fight. After pulling goalie Manny Fernandez in the final minute, they had several good scoring chances, but could not dent Giguere.
"We had a great, great season,'' Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "These guys battled in the playoffs. We weren't supposed to win one game. We started to get confidence by winning the first game and believe that maybe we could win two, three or four. We did that for two series, but as soon as we got here, it seemed like the breaks were on one side."
The Wild exorcised two demons with one blow four minutes into the game. Ruslan Salei pile-drove Darby Hendrickson into the ice to draw a holding penalty, putting the Wild on the power play.
Despite possessing the No. 1-ranked unit in the playoffs, they were 0 for 12 against the Ducks in this series and 0 for 22 this season. And they still were dealing with Giguere's mind games.
Minnesota spent most of its practice Thursday concentrating on getting at least two bodies in front of the goaltender. Andrew Brunette made the play when it counted.
Parked to Giguere's left with Jim Dowd screening in the slot, Brunette redirected Cliff Ronning's point shot off the far post to put the Wild on the scoreboard for the first time since they last visited Vancouver.
One could hear the yelps of joy and relief from the Minnesota bench until the sold-out crowd rose and applauded as one in a hearty salute to the phenomenon known as Jiggy.
Brunette's goal yanked the plug on Giguere's maddening shutout meter, which stopped at 217 minutes, 54 seconds — the fifth-longest postseason shutout streak in NHL history.
"We never believed we were out of it,'' Hendrickson said. "It was a great feeling on the bench. You could feel the momentum, but to their credit, they came back quickly.''
The Wild's lead lasted less than four minutes, though, as the bad luck switched from offense to defense when a Filip Kuba hooking penalty gave the Ducks their own power play.
Oates tied the score by swatting a bouncing puck past Fernandez. Anaheim's dump-in pinballed behind the net, off Andrei Zyuzin's skate to Mike Leclerc. His centering pass ricocheted off Brad Bombardir in the crease right to Oates for an easy whack.
"They had the best power play in the playoffs coming in, and they got one and we got two,'' Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "Dallas had three in the series, and we got four. Detroit got two, and we got two as our guys stepped out of the box. It sounds to me like specialty teams have been pretty good for us.''
Both teams had bang-bang opportunities near the end of the period, but were denied by goal posts.
Samuel Pahlsson shoveled one off the pipe during a scrum in front of Fernandez. Moments later, Bombardir cut in from the point and snapped Brunette's feed off the iron to Giguere's right.
Entering the series, little attention was given the Anaheim power play and for good reason. It was awful. Three games later, it was worse. The Ducks were 4 for 49 (8 percent) with the man advantage heading into Game 4. But they rediscovered it Friday night, and it became another sharp stone in the Wild's shoe.
Midway through the period, with Nick Schultz in the box for tripping Rob Niedermayer, Oates pounced on some more loose change in front of Fernandez and cashed in.
Leclerc's centering pass bounced off Niedermayer and a scrambling Kuba on the doorstep, where Oates pulled it out of the stew of sticks and skates and poked it past Fernandez to put Anaheim up 2-1 at 9:31.
Seconds later, with the Wild still in a fog, Fernandez kept hope alive when he stretched out a pad to deny Leclerc's stuff at the left post, leaving Minnesota within striking distance entering the final 20 minutes.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/5882713.htm
