What team beat the Anaheim Ducks to reach the finals in the NHL Western Conference?”
One goal short. That will prey on the Ducks’ minds, that they had come back from oblivion in March and rallied twice against Detroit on Thursday but fell one goal short of advancing to the Western Conference finals. The Red Wings’ pervasive grit, maybe more than their dazzling skill, was the difference in a 4-3 victory that decided a riveting seven-game series between the last two Stanley Cup champions. The Ducks’ resilience, though admirable, could not compensate for that. Detroit will move on to face the Chicago Blackhawks because Dan Cleary, finishing a play that developed after the Ducks didn’t get the puck in deep at the other end, batted a pass from Henrik Zetterberg out of mid-air and beneath goaltender Jonas Hiller with three minutes left in the third period. It was the trump card the Ducks could not match. “We deserved a better end,” Teemu Selanne said. Instead they got a bitter end. Maybe the end to the brilliant career of Scott Niedermayer, too. The backbone of the Ducks’ de
The defending Stanley Cup champions were at home, but the Detroit Red Wings were hardly safe late in the third period. Dan Cleary’s tiebreaking goal with 3 minutes left lifted the Red Wings to a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night and into the Western Conference finals for the third straight year and eighth time in 14 seasons. “When you have role players stepping in and scoring goals, it makes it so much easier,” star defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said.
