Anaheim, Calif. – As a final symbolic follow-up to the Disney empire’s 2005 sale of the franchise to Henry and Susan Samueli, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim next season will become, simply, the Anaheim Ducks.
In the Western Conference finals against Edmonton, the Ducks played as if the franchise retired the term “Mighty” after the previous round and ordered the Ducks to react accordingly.
Or were the Avalanche that bad and the eighth-seeded Oilers that good against the Ducks?
In the wake of the Oilers’ 2-1 victory Saturday night and their 4-1 series win over Anaheim, take your pick. Or stake out the gray area between the extremes.
Regardless, the bottom line is a team that posted the same number of regular-season points as the Avalanche – Colorado was the seventh seed on the basis of more victories – is going to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Oilers, who got goals from Ethan Moreau and Raffi Torres and a strong 32-save effort from goalie Dwayne Roloson in Game 5, will be returning to the Finals for the first time since 1990, when they finished off their dynastic run of five Cup triumphs in seven seasons. The Oilers will open the Finals on the road against the winner of the Buffalo-Carolina Eastern Conference finals, which is tied at two games apiece.
And the Ducks?
They’re done, too.
“That’s hockey,” said shrugging Anaheim winger Teemu Selanne. “Nobody dies. We lost the series, but I can’t say they were better than us. You always want to respect the team you play against, and they found a way to win the games. That’s all that matters. We can only wish them luck and go on and learn something.”
In Game 5, the Ducks were 1-for-11 on the power play. They couldn’t get the tiebreaking goal when they had a 6-on-3 in the final minutes after Anaheim pulled goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere on a power play and Edmonton’s Chris Pronger drew a delay of game for sending the puck into the stands.
But a lot of that was Roloson.
This is a stunning turnaround for the veteran goalie who came to the Oilers on March 7 from the Minnesota Wild, which had decided to cast its lot with the younger Manny Fernandez, signing him to a long-term extension and signaling that Roloson – also destined for unrestricted free agency – was the odd man out.
“When I got traded here I was elated,” said Roloson. “I knew the team’s work ethic and everything else, and I knew we had a chance to do something special as long as I played half-decent and gave them a chance to win. … We’re not done yet. Hopefully, we can get four more wins.”
In the deciding game, the Mighty Ducks – who had extended the series with a 6-3 victory at Edmonton on Thursday night – at least threatened to get closer to becoming the first team since the 1975 New York Islanders to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and win. Francois Beauchemin’s power-play goal at 7:30 of the first period gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead and got the crowd at the Arrowhead Pond excited, but Edmonton took the lead on Moreau’s and Torres’ goals and held on.
Giguere was getting his second straight start in the Anaheim net after Ducks coach Randy Carlyle made the change from rookie Ilya Bryzgalov, who was strong, yet only mildly tested in the series against Colorado.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
