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Moen scores twice as Ducks win Stanley Cup

Jun 7, 2007 - 6:20 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Moen is a name normally associated with faucets. The Ottawa Senators couldn't turn off Travis Moen in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Moen recorded the first two-goal playoff performance of his career and Andy McDonald added a tally and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks captured the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history Wednesday with a 6-2 victory over the Senators.

Rob Niedermayer and defenseman Francois Beauchemin also scored for the Ducks, who became the first West Coast team in the United States to win the Cup since the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

"Hockey has gained huge support in this area and I believe this gave a big boost for hockey in California," Anaheim's Teemu Selanne said. "In the future, you're going to see more and more great hockey players coming from this area. I think we've done a very important job."

Hailing from British Columbia, the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League also won the trophy in 1925.

"Our players deserve all the recognition for the way they played, the way they committed to everything that we asked of them to do," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We have a bunch of great leaders and the guys worked their tails off. It's kind of surreal right now."

A member of Anaheim's vaunted checking line, Moen scored the winning goal in Game One of the Finals on May 28. The 25-year-old did the same Wednesday, although it was not your typical type of tally.

Just over four minutes after Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson drew his team within 2-1 midway through the second period, a fluke play deep in the Senators' zone helped Anaheim restore its two-goal cushion.

Goaltender Ray Emery tried to clear the puck up the left wing boards from behind his own net, but defenseman Chris Phillips quickly grabbed it. With Emery making his way back into the crease, Phillips pushed the puck ahead in an attempt to avoid a forechecking Niedermayer and begin a rush.

But the puck got caught in the right skate of an unsuspecting Emery, who moved his foot, jarring it loose and sending it into the net at 15:44. The last Duck to touch the puck, Moen was credited with the tally, which gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead.

"I was trying to get away from Niedermayer coming from behind the net," Phillips said. "I put the puck in front of me and it got stuck in (Emery's) skates. The play could happen (like that) a hundred times without the puck going in. The puck was at my feet, and I couldn't get it out.

"I felt bad, obviously. Not the time to do it, that's for sure. ... My screw-up seemed to take some momentum away."

Just 4:01 into the third period, Moen completed his multi-goal effort by redirecting Conn Smythe Trophy winner Scott Niedermayer's wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle past Emery, staking Anaheim to a 5-2 advantage.

"The second goal was a good goal to get," Moen said. "The first one was a little lucky, but I'll take both of them, for sure."

"(We provided) more than anyone would have expected," said Samuel Pahlsson, the center of Anaheim's checking line. "Everyone has to contribute to get a winning team. And that's what we got, we got help from everyone out there."

Corey Perry sealed the win with three minutes to go in the third.

"It's everything," Perry said of winning the Cup. "This is why you play hockey, this is why you go to the rink at five in the morning as a little kid and your parents take you. This is everything you dream about. When you get this opportunity, you're going to remember it for the rest of your life."

"They played really well," Ottawa's Mike Fisher said. "They played better than us. You've got to give them credit. They're a great team."

Facing a team that entered having been shorthanded a league-leading 118 times this postseason, the Senators found themselves in penalty trouble early in this one. And the Ducks made them pay.

With Tom Preissing already in the penalty box for interference, fellow defenseman Anton Volchenkov was called for hooking at 3:25, giving Anaheim a brief 5-on-3 opportunity. Just one second after Preissing's penalty expired, the Ducks cashed in to take a 1-0 lead.

After getting the puck low in the right faceoff circle, McDonald attempted a cross-slot pass to Selanne on the left side. But the puck hit Phillips' right skate and sneaked between the pads of Emery at 3:41 for McDonald's team-leading 10th goal of the playoffs.

"It was a great bounce," McDonald said. "To get a score like that early in the game, your mind starts wandering a little bit. But the game was so much back and forth at that point. ... It was good feeling."

The tally also gave McDonald the franchise record for most in one postseason, eclipsing the mark of nine set by Joffrey Lupul last year.

Less than two minutes later, the Ducks received a scare when Norris Trophy finalist Chris Pronger - who was back in the lineup after serving his one-game suspension for a blow to the head of Ottawa's Dean McAmmond in Game Three - was crunched behind Anaheim's net by Antoine Vermette. Senators tough guy Chris Neil came in late and added a little elbow to the head of Pronger, who skated off slowly and retreated to the locker room before returning late in the period.

Beauchemin made the best save of the opening session with 11:14 remaining, getting his stick on Jason Spezza's shot at a wide-open right side of the net from the doorstep to preserve the one-goal edge.

"Those are things that aren't easy to do," Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer said. "I guess when you're focused on the game, they're fun to do, but they're not easy. ... But when you're committed to win, you're doing things like that."

Moments after Anaheim successfully killed Perry's roughing infraction, Rob Niedermayer doubled the advantage. Picking up a loose puck in the neutral zone, Rob Niedermayer skated down the right side, got a step ahead of Mike Comrie and put a backhander between the right arm and body of Emery with 2:19 to go for a 2-0 bulge.

It was the fifth goal in 21 playoff games for Rob Niedermayer, who registered the exact same total in 82 regular-season contests.

"I think it was just a whole team effort," Rob Niedermayer said. "They had a lot of chances in the series. I think (goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere) did a good job of making some huge stops. It was just contributions from everybody. That's why we were able to win."

After Emery made impressive glove saves on Dustin Penner and Pahlsson 26 seconds apart early in the middle session, Alfredsson got his team on the scoreboard.

Booed every time he touched the puck for drilling a shot directly at Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer at the end of the second period in Game Four, Alfredsson received a pass in the high slot and fired a shot over the left shoulder of netminder Giguere at 11:27 of the second for his league-leading 13th postseason tally.

Refusing to let his team get down after Moen's fluke goal, Alfredsson netted his second of the game with 2:22 left in the period. With Ottawa shorthanded, the Swede stole the puck from Ryan Getzlaf just outside the blue line and raced down the right wing before beating Giguere high to the short side, drawing the Senators within a goal.

"He's been the leader on this team from start to finish," Ottawa's Dany Heatley said of Alfredsson. "He certainly tried to carry us tonight."

But Anaheim managed to cash in on the same power play 50 seconds later, as Beauchemin ripped a one-timer from the left point that caromed off Volchenkov and past Emery before hitting the right post and entering the net at 18:28.

"I think the goal Beauchemin scored late in the second (was big)," McDonald said. "They scored late there and we answered back with a goal. That was huge to go into the third period with the momentum after scoring the goal."

Vermette was awarded a penalty shot at 7:23 of the third after being hooked from behind by Todd Marchant. But while attempting to deke to his backhand, Vermette lost control of the puck, never getting off a shot.

"I tried to prevent him from getting off a shot," Marchant said. "I tried to cut him off and make contact with his stick. I thought that I did get the stick. The referee thought differently."

It was the 10th penalty shot in Stanley Cup Finals history and ninth unsuccessful one. Only Pronger has converted a penalty shot in the Finals, scoring on Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes as a member of the Edmonton Oilers in Game One last year.

Ottawa managed to record just 13 shots on goal Wednesday and only 49 in the three games at the Honda Center.

"With the way the game developed, I thought that the exclamation point for our team was we only allowed 13 shots in a critical game," Carlyle said. "That's a tribute to the players because they went out and they fought and won a lot of battles."