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Ducks beat Red Wings to advance to Stanley Cup Finals

May 23, 2007 - 7:24 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks are heading to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in franchise history.

Rob Niedermayer and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and an assist as the Ducks held off the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, in Game Six to win the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.

Anaheim, which entered the NHL in 1993-94, will host the Ottawa Senators in the opening game of the Finals on Monday. The Ducks have played in the Finals once before, losing in seven games to the New Jersey Devils in 2003.

"Now, it's time to enjoy it. Usually, we have a 10-minute rule, just enjoy a win for 10 minutes. But this is different," Anaheim right wing Teemu Selanne said. "We can even enjoy it tomorrow. We wanted to wrap it up tonight. We didn't want to go back to Detroit. You never know what's going to happen in a Game Seven."

Anaheim led, 4-1, in the third after a tally by Samuel Pahlsson at 5:54, but two power-play goals from Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk made it a one-goal game with just over three minutes to play in regulation.

The Ducks killed a power play with under three minutes remaining and held off another late barrage by the Red Wings, who pulled goaltender Dominik Hasek with a minute remaining.

"That third period was a little scary, especially when we got scored on a couple of times," said Ducks' center Todd Marchant, who had an assist in the game. "We said before the game that we're going to have to go out and play the best game of this series."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 29 saves for Anaheim, including 13 in the third period where Detroit had a 16-3 shot advantage. He had stopped all 13 shots he faced through the first two sessions.

"I've been (to the Stanley Cup Finals) once (in 2003) and we weren't able to win it all," Giguere said. "These occasions don't come every year. You gotta try to take advantage of it. And I'm just looking forward to having fun, enjoy the moment. It's going to be a lot of fun. And hopefully as a team we'll be able to achieve our goal."

The Ducks controlled play for much of the first period, outshooting the Red Wings, 14-7. Hasek was up to the challenge on all but one shot, which came 3:51 into the game.

With the Red Wings on the power play, Niedermayer won a faceoff in the Detroit zone. Sean O'Donnell passed the puck to the high slot, where defenseman Chris Pronger gathered the puck and shot on net. The drive deflected into the net off Niedermayer, who was screening Hasek in front of the net.

Hasek, who stopped 25 of 29 shots, continued his strong play into the next period, though Anaheim ultimately broke through for a pair of tallies.

In a three-minute span of the second, the 42-year-old made a glove save on a slap shot by Selanne, a sprawling save on a break-in by Corey Perry and stopped a breakaway by Kent Huskins.

"I got a lot of respect for (Hasek)," Giguere said. "Doing what he does at his age. You know it's not easy. I won't be there when I'm at his age, for sure. But I really see it as the Ducks beat the Red Wings - it's not about the goalies. In fact, there was a lot of goals scored in this series."

Hasek's run of success ran out at the 9:52 mark when he failed to corral a slapper from the right point by Francois Beauchemin.

With Hasek lying on his back, looking as if he had covered the puck after Beauchemin's drive, Perry found the loose puck on the right side of the goal crease and wristed it into the unguarded net for 2-0 lead.

"They were very aggressive around the net and they scored all their goals on the rebound," Hasek said. "I don't know what to say. It's sad to lose that game and go home."

The Ducks' third goal - at 18:33 of the second - was somewhat similar, with the exception that Anaheim had the man advantage.

After Marchant tried jamming the puck past Hasek on the doorstep, there was a scramble in front of the net. With Hasek on his back yet again, the puck squirted free to the right side of the crease, where Getzlaf was able to knock the puck into the net for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Selanne earned his fifth point of the series with an assist on the tally. Playing in his 14th season, Selanne will be making his first Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

"It's going to take some time to realize it (making it to the Finals)," Selanne said. "Well, I'm going to enjoy it. For all these years, I watched in the locker room while they gave out all the hats. It's been a long time for me, but it's worth it. I'm very proud of our group."

Detroit finally broke through against Giguere 3:15 into the second period as Henrik Zetterberg tallied his sixth goal of the playoffs.

Anaheim responded less than three minutes later as Pahlsson gave the Ducks a 4-1 lead with 14:06 to play.

Datsyuk scored on the man advantage at 10:08 and 16:56 as the Red Wings went two-for-seven on the power play. Zetterberg assisted on Datsyuk's second goal as did Mikael Samuelsson, who finished with three helpers.

"They came out and played better than us in the first," Zetterberg said. "I think we wanted it a little bit too much and we skated with it and didn't think too much, we just wanted to do so much. Sometimes you have to take it a little bit easier and play a little smarter."