Did the Ducks play their best hockey?

Hey, Carolina fan here just thinking a little bit about the Ducks and their Cup.

It's clear to all that they steamrolled over the Sens just as the Sens had steamrolled over the Sabres - but did it require the best play of the Ducks? They seemed to fare far more shakily against Detroit in the series before, and it wasn't really until Selanne's OT shocker goal (and really, until the game after) that it became clear who would win that series. I remember hearing talk from the announcers and people and on these boards during that series against Detroit that the Ducks hadn't really played their best hockey for several games. They still won that series though and took it hard to Ottawa to defeat them in five games... but was that because the Ducks jump-started themselves to the top of their game for the finals or the West being overall stronger than the East? I'm sorry if this is confusing, but I was just wondering what you all thought.

Thanks for your time

Without a doubt they tried their hardest thats why we won. The Senators I was afraid of them of every second of the game they are great team. Does that answer your question?

Yes and no! The real fact is they won the games that they didn't show up too. That's was the magic of that team last year!

It's clear to all that they steamrolled over the Sens just as the Sens had steamrolled over the Sabres - but did it require the best play of the Ducks? They seemed to fare far more shakily against Detroit in the series before, and it wasn't really until Selanne's OT shocker goal (and really, until the game after) that it became clear who would win that series. I remember hearing talk from the announcers and people and on these boards during that series against Detroit that the Ducks hadn't really played their best hockey for several games. They still won that series though and took it hard to Ottawa to defeat them in five games... but was that because the Ducks jump-started themselves to the top of their game for the finals or the West being overall stronger than the East? I'm sorry if this is confusing, but I was just wondering what you all thought.

Thanks for your time

In my opinion, the west was just that much better than the east last year. The series that featured the two best teams in the league was Anaheim - Detroit.

I think the Sens were a great matchup for the Ducks. They had one line that did most of their work. The Ducks were a team built in a way to be able to stop any single line from doing too much damage. The checking line + the D spent much of the season neutralizing #1 lines, forcing other teams to rely on their depth.

Also, the Red Wings were much deeper team offensively than Ottawa, with a better D and a much better goalie.

Detroit was just a better team than Ottawa

I think it all really came down to the penalties. When the ducks weren't heavely penalized they seemed to dominate the opposition.

No, I dont think that team played their best hockey.

Niedermayer was playing injured and the fire that team has when it really wants to win wasnt even on. It wasnt even on during most of the Detroit series.

This season scares me though. Teemu's absence seems to be a much larger deal than expected.

the Ducks were the Team to beat after their first game of last season..........

they were the BEST Hockey team that I've ever seen since the Kings bought Gretz.

I've never seen Gretz Oiler days............ but our 3rd was better than most 1st lines....

This year???????????

Playoffs = YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Repeat = We need Scotty and Teemu for a Guaranteed Stanley Repeat....

I think the Sens were a great matchup for the Ducks. They had one line that did most of their work. The Ducks were a team built in a way to be able to stop any single line from doing too much damage. The checking line + the D spent much of the season neutralizing #1 lines, forcing other teams to rely on their depth.

Also, the Red Wings were much deeper team offensively than Ottawa, with a better D and a much better goalie.

I disagree about the D.....
Redden
Mezsaros
Volchenkov
Phillips
Preissing
Corvo

over
Lidstrom
Markov
Schneider
Lilja
Chelios
Lebda

I think the Detroit series was just an extremely hard fought one. Best two teams in the league going head to head. There was only a few games that they didn't really show up at. I think the biggest reason why people thought they didn't show up was because when this team was on, it was scary to watch. Their were games last year that all of us were just :amazed::amazed::amazed:. Those games made expectations extremely high. I think a very similar problem will occur this year if Scott and Teemu come back.

If you have a lineup that consits of: S. Niedermayer, Pronger, Schneider, Selanne, Bertuzzi, Getzlaf, Perry, McDonald, Kunitz, Gigure, and the best checking line in the league you're going to have extremely high expectations. So when the team plays bad it seems about 100 times worse because the expectations are so high.

I disagree about the D.....
Redden
Mezsaros
Volchenkov
Phillips
Preissing
Corvo

over
Lidstrom
Markov
Schneider
Lilja
Chelios
Lebda

I think Detroit's D is much better. Maybe not by much, but definitely better. Redden is one of the most overrated defensemen IMO.

I'd say Ottawa's defense is slightly better in general, but Detroit's is much better at dealing with our cycling game. Even though they seem smaller, they just managed to deal with the pressure better.

Without a doubt they tried their hardest thats why we won. The Senators I was afraid of them of every second of the game they are great team. Does that answer your question?

Didn't mean my question to offend, either answer and the Ducks look just fine. Tried their hardest, they're nigh perfect; WC better than EC, they potentially exceed nigh perfect.

You don't sound upset or anything, I'm just making sure

The only team that had a better defense than detroit was the ducks.

Lidstrom is so much better than any of the dmen on ottawa. He plays half the game too. Redden is a piece of crap to me. All he does is get smoked for goals whenever i watch. I still remember jeff friesen smoking him in 03.


To answer the original question, i think they did play their best. Although they won in short order over 3 of the four teams, in the final they only won by one goal 3 of four times. All those wins were 3rd period tie breakers too. They just had killer instinct. Ottawa was a great team, but the ducks already played a better team in Detroit. The final four this year, actually, seemed like an actual top four. 1ducks 2detroit 3sens 4sabres...


Detroit, was right up there with the ducks. Very close. But Giguere>Hasek. (though not by much) That was the edge i saw in the series. Game 5 was an example of it.

The Ducks all season showed how good they were at managing the game. They always looked under control, and never put themselves in bad situations. They never in the PO really got down my more than a goal, but usually when they did they lost. (i remember they came back against van once)

I think they did play their best hockey. Not ever having to play an elimination game=pretty damn good.

The only team that had a better defense than detroit was the ducks.

Lidstrom is so much better than any of the dmen on ottawa. He plays half the game too. Redden is a piece of crap to me. All he does is get smoked for goals whenever i watch. I still remember jeff friesen smoking him in 03.


To answer the original question, i think they did play their best. Although they won in short order over 3 of the four teams, in the final they only won by one goal 3 of four times. All those wins were 3rd period tie breakers too. They just had killer instinct. Ottawa was a great team, but the ducks already played a better team in Detroit. The final four this year, actually, seemed like an actual top four. 1ducks 2detroit 3sens 4sabres...


Detroit, was right up there with the ducks. Very close. But Giguere>Hasek. (though not by much) That was the edge i saw in the series. Game 5 was an example of it.

The Ducks all season showed how good they were at managing the game. They always looked under control, and never put themselves in bad situations. They never in the PO really got down my more than a goal, but usually when they did they lost. (i remember they came back against van once)

I think they did play their best hockey. Not ever having to play an elimination game=pretty damn good.

pretty much sums it up.

Detroit, was right up there with the ducks. Very close. But Giguere>Hasek. (though not by much) That was the edge i saw in the series. Game 5 was an example of it. [/B]

Losing Kronwall and Schneider to injury were huge blows to Detroit. Had one or both been healthy the outcome of the series could have been very different.

I think they played their best hockey, Vancouver was a tougher series than we remember. Detroit was a very good team and hard to beat, old coach new some tendancies?

I think the Ducks got lucky beating Detroit, but whoever won between those two would definately win the cup.

minny or vancouver could have beaten ottawa, imo the ducks had a bit more trouble with those 2 teams than the sens. it was funny watching the sens beat up on the little sabres and thinking they had it in the bag....

the eastern conference sucked ass in '06-'07, no one knows how to play real defence in that conference (except for jersey who trap all the time). the level of checking and north american styles of offence in the west completely nullify the soft euro styles in the east.

It still kills me to think about the WCF's.

Despite the outcomes of some of the series...almost every game the Ducks were in was close.

If you win the cup...you played your best hockey. There is no team in the league that is good enough to win without doing so in the playoffs.

As for Detroit giving more of a challenge...I think that can be attributed to a number of things...an unprepared Ottawa team, a very long break, and style.

Put Detroit in the finals and the cup may be out East this year. Team matchups mean a lot in the playoffs. Ottawa's style just couldnt match Anaheims....Detroits was better suited to Anaheim's game.

...an unprepared Ottawa team, a very long break,

This is turning into a bit of a legend. Both teams had a huge layoff. I don't think the break gave anyone an advantage.

I disagree about the D.....
Redden
Mezsaros
Volchenkov
Phillips
Preissing
Corvo

over
Lidstrom
Markov
Schneider
Lilja
Chelios
Lebda

Not quite true. For the Anaheim series the Detroit D was actually

Lidstrom
Markov
Chelios
Lilja
Lebda (with a badly twisted ankle that robbed him of his only asset - speed)
Quincey

Ottawa had a far superior defensive corp that Detroit's last season when they played the Ducks. Had Schneider not broken his wrist (or Kronwall his hip) things may have turned out differently, but the fact is they were and "what if's" really don't matter. Detroit was playing without it's #2 and #3 defensemen, and with the #6 at 50%. That'd be like lopping Pronger and Beauchemin off the Ducks and making DiPenta play top4 minutes.

Never for an entire game.

Not quite true. For the Anaheim series the Detroit D was actually

Lidstrom
Markov
Chelios
Lilja
Lebda (with a badly twisted ankle that robbed him of his only asset - speed)
Quincey

Ottawa had a far superior defensive corp that Detroit's last season when they played the Ducks. Had Schneider not broken his wrist (or Kronwall his hip) things may have turned out differently, but the fact is they were and "what if's" really don't matter. Detroit was playing without it's #2 and #3 defensemen, and with the #6 at 50%. That'd be like lopping Pronger and Beauchemin off the Ducks and making DiPenta play top4 minutes.

Not quite. Pronger is a #1 defenseman, he just happens to be playing the #2 role. Comparing Anaheim's D to any other team, in a manner like that, doesn't quite work. Detroit has far better depth than Anaheim on D. Anaheim makes up for it by being very top-heavy. But if you lop off one of those top heavy players, Anaheim looks far worse than Detroit.