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Top two seeds square off in Western Conference finals

May 11, 2007 - 1:21 PM Anaheim at Detroit 7:30 pm EDT Western Conference Finals Game One

DETROIT (Ticker) -- In a series ripe with storylines, perhaps nothing catches the eye more than the amount of hardware that resides on the backlines of the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks.

The top-seeded Red Wings and second-seeded Ducks begin the Western Conference finals at Joe Louis Arena on Friday.

All three Norris Trophy finalists this year - Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom along with Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger - will be on the ice for the duration of the series. Lidstrom was honored as the league's top defenseman last year for the fourth time while Niedermayer won it in 2004 and Pronger claimed it in 2000.

Along with three-time winner Chris Chelios playing effectively in an NHL-record 22nd postseason on the blue line and 1981 winner and current Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, 10 former or future Norris Trophy winners will be playing a vital role in this series.

With the solid play of the defensemen, it is no wonder the goaltenders look so good.

Detroit's Dominik Hasek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner, is giving up 1.5 goals a game in the playoffs and he shut out the San Jose Sharks in the series-clinching win Monday. Hasek's 1.97 goals-against average ranks second among goalies with at least 100 playoff games.

Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere is allowing a league-low 1.28 goals this postseason. While he lacks the recognition of his counterpart, he can draw on the experience of eliminating Detroit during the 2003 conference semifinals in his NHL playoff debut.

Current Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was calling the shots for Anaheim that season. The Ducks came within a victory of claiming the Stanley Cup in 2003, but the team failed to make the 2004 playoffs and the next season was canceled by the lockout.

The Ducks were subsequently sold and the new front office did not want to make a long-term commitment to Babcock in 2005. Detroit did, giving him a four-year contract.

His replacement was Carlyle. In his first NHL coaching position, he has led the Ducks to the conference finals in each of his two years, capped off this season by winning a franchise-record 48 games and their first Pacific Division title.