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 For the third season in a row, the Ducks not only suffered a Game
Seven loss at home but again squandered a 3-2 series lead.
This time it was a 5-3 beating by the Chicago Blackhawks in
Saturday's climax of the Western Conference Finals and there was
little solace in the fact that in each season the Ducks advanced a
round further.
“We got four months,” Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said about the
wait for their next campaign.
“I'm not going to lie, it's going to hurt for a while. We truly
believe that we're a different team and we had a really good chance
of winning five more games." Last year, Anaheim’s season ended with
a 6-2 loss in the final game of their second-round series against
the rival Los Angeles Kings. In 2013, the Ducks exited in the first
round after a 3-2 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings.
“(We) didn't get it done," said Boudreau. "We'll have to live with
that for the summer.” Chicago, meanwhile, advanced to their third
Stanley Cup championship series in six years, with Game One against
the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida on Wednesday.
Two key factors in Anaheim’s final two losses was the superior play
by Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, who scored twice on Saturday,
compared to Ducks counterpart Ryan Getzlaf, and the struggles of
Anaheim goalie Frederik Anderson. Anderson’s save percentage over
the final three games was a dismal .829.
Getzlaf had an assist on Saturday but did not score a goal and has a
combined plus-minus rating of minus-eight in the final two games of
his last three playoffs.
"I didn't play good enough to win," Getzlaf said.
Boudreau refused to be critical of his captain when asked if he was
outplayed by Toews.
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“You're looking for me to say one guy is better than another guy.
That's not the case,” said Boudreau, now 0-for-6 at home in Game
Sevens, dating back to his time with the Washington Capitals.
“All I know is Ryan Getzlaf played very hard, and he is a great
captain. He's the first one that's going to be wishing that things
had turned out different ... he played his ass off or his heart out
-- however you want to put it.”
(Reporting by Tim Wharnsby in Toronto; Editing by Larry Fine)
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