Quack! Quack! Quack!
Beat up the Detroit Red Wings and then rub the Dallas Stars' noses in it: That's one way to get the attention of the hockey world.
Even after sweeping the Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks earned little notice as a serious contender. Most folks - myself included - suggested the V-formation would come crashing down in Dallas. Wrong.
So could it be that we were wrong about the Anaheim Mighty Ducks all along? Are we seeing the emergence of a new powerhouse? Stars like Paul Kariya and Petr Sykora have made only modest contributions during this playoff run. The true leaders are the guys playing over their heads, players like Rob Niedermayer and Mike LeClerc. This suggests that the Ducks are what they appear to be: a decent team on a remarkable roll. How long they can keep it up is anybody's guess. They have already exceeded most estimates.
One Duck who might have found a career-long groove is goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere. He has maintained a spectacular level of play long enough to make you believe he can do it on a regular basis. In fact, game four against Dallas - his first shutout of the playoffs - may have been his best performance yet. His team mates deserve plenty of credit, but this is Giguere's team.
Or perhaps Bryan Murray's team. The Ducks' GM has replaced about half his players in the past year, with immediate results. And spare a thought for Mike Babcock, the coach who has Keith Carney playing like Adam Foote and Steve Rucchin imitating Sergei Fedorov. Before earning his Duck wings, Babcock coached at the university, junior, world junior and minor pro levels. Is it a coincidence that he is still working while Tony Granato, who had no coaching experience when he took over the Avalanche in December, is gone home for the summer?
With a 3-1 series lead, it's hard to see the Ducks losing to Dallas. After that, it's either the Wild or the Canucks. You know the shooters from Minnesota and Vancouver are cringing as they watch Giguere rob the Stars night after night (Mike Modano facing a wide open net? That's a guaranteed goal, right? Apparently not.) Lesser teams have ridden such performances all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. Nobody is suggesting the Ducks can't do the same.
The Devil We Know
Meanwhile, at the other end of the continent, it's business as usual. The New Jersey Devils are rolling through the playoffs once again, looking as impenetrable as ever.
The years roll by, coaches change, players come and go, but Devils' hockey persists. This year's team is a little younger and a little faster. But in the end it still comes down to Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens and a bunch of forward drones, all conspiring to make opponents feel as if the game is being played in a phone booth.
New Jersey hockey does not make for spectacular highlight reels, and it earns a dismissive sniff from the snooty "poetry on ice" advocates. But no one ever said the Stanley Cup playoffs were a popularity contest. The Devils of 2003 look a lot like the Devils of '95 and 2000, and we all know what happened then.
The Bruins did not have a chance against them, nor do the Lightning. But a greater challenge awaits in the Eastern Conference finals: a worthy opponent, either Ottawa or Philadelphia. The Devils don't score a lot and the defense isn't getting any younger, so they will almost certainly find themselves in a tight battle. But given the familiar fashion in which they have dominated recent games - cut off the attack and pounce on the spoils - you might not want to bet against them.
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Hockey Experts Are On The Loose Again
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Upsets and Abuse: The Opening Round Notebook
