The Anaheim Ducks found themselves floundering in another playoff elimination game.
Dallas had built a 4-2 lead after two periods and appeared to sending this series back to Southern California for a do-or-die game 7.
Anaheim trailed by two goals on three different occasions during the course of the game and had only managed to throw 14 pucks on net through 40 minutes of play.
Entering the third period a game 7 back at Honda Center seemed like a forgone conclusion. It was a performance reminiscent of past Anaheim playoff failures. ...and then it happened.
The Ducks played desperate hockey. They out shot the Stars 15-5 in the final period and scored two of the biggest goals in franchise history to force overtime.
But, this was not just any comeback...it was an epic comeback. It might even get 10 or 12 seconds of airtime of ESPN. Yes, it was that big@
It was the type of comeback Father's will tell their kids about and those kids will tell their kids and so on. It was the type of comeback that you had to see to believe ans I saw it and I still don't believe it.
With 2:10 left in game 6, Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey pinned the puck in behind the Stars net. Nick Bonino went back to help out and found himself with the puck alone. He took it to the front and proceeded to roof the puck over the shoulder of a stunned Kari Lehtonen. It was an incredible effort and an ever more incredible shot and one I am calling the best of the season for Anaheim.
It certainly was the most important. It gave the Ducks life and put doubt into the minds of the Stars players and fans.
I believe that goal alone saved the Ducks season. Anaheim surged and Devante Smith-Pelly, who already had a goal in the game, forced overtime when he managed to bang home a loose puck during a mad scramble in front of the Dallas net with 24 ticks left on the game clock.
The whole play was utter chaos and honestly I'm not even sure what happened. All I know it that the puck was in the back of the net and total chaos ensued.
The Ducks bench went nuts, I went nuts, twitter went nuts and the air was sucked out of the American Airlines Center. It was incredible.
Bonino finished the job and eliminated the Stars with his second goal of the game just 2:47 into overtime. The goal won the series and helped to quickly erase the memories of recent playoff failures. Anaheim has not ,(until now) advanced past the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2008-09 season.
Last spring Anaheim lost the Detroit Red Wings in seven games after they blew a 3-2 series lead and lost game 7 on home ice. This series had all the makings of a repeat of that. I'm thankful it didn't end up that way.
Now we breath, we rest and we wait.
Anaheim will play the winner of the Sharks/Kings series. At one point San Jose led that series 3-0, but L.A. has forced a game six with back-to-back lopsided wins.
The Ducks last faced the Sharks in the playoffs back in that 08-09 season, winning the series in six games. The Ducks and Kings have never met in the postseason.
Regardless of who wins between SJ and LA it will be an all California round two.
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I am still trying the fathom what happened and how the Ducks managed to win this series. So many things went wrong for them from Ryan Getzlaf taking a puck to his grill in game one, to the mysterious injury that kept him out of game four. There was the devastating loss of Stephane Robidas for the rest of the season and now the injury to Mathieu Perreault.
And of course who is going to start in net? Freddie Andersen was pulled twice in the series, including in game six. Jonas Hiller was too erratic down the stretch, but one could argue that his play helped propel Anaheim to their comeback in the series clincher. He faced 12 shots and stopped them all and he earned third star of the game honors for his efforts.
In fact he may have won himself the starting job back....at least for game one of the next series.
So much to think about and so much much to plan for. The good news? We still have at least four more game of Anaheim Ducks hockey. The bad news? Right now there is none...the freaking Ducks won the dang series! Let's enjoy it for a bit. Shall we?
Thanks for reading!