Anaheim won the first game of the final series

Stanley Cup

The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Ottawa Senators in the first game of the Stanley Cup - 3:2. The Californians, who had the advantage throughout the entire meeting, scored the decisive goal three minutes before the end of the third period.

A symbolic face-off before the match was performed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Inspired by such attention, the southerners turned on maximum speed from the first seconds and did not allow the Canadians to breathe for a second, chasing them throughout the entire court for three periods. At the same time, they themselves shot at goal at the first opportunity and eventually forced the guests to capitulate.

The key in the match was the confrontation between Ottawa's strike line - Daniel Alfredsson - Jason Spezza - Dany Heatley, who brought the Canadians victories in most of the previous meetings of the current playoffs, and the so-called checking line - a trio that specializes in neutralizing the opponent's leaders, " Anaheim": Samuel Palsson - Rob Niedermayer - Travis Moen. Spezza and Co. lost the rivalry outright. They hit the target only five times and didn't score a single goal. Niedermayer and his partners made 12 accurate shots and scored the decisive goal. In addition, they accounted for half of the power moves used by their team (15 out of 30). It should also be noted that a pair of defensemen Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer (Rob's brother) were on the ice with them throughout the match. These are two of Anaheim's best defensive players. Both are nominated along with Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings for Defensive Player of the Season honors. They did not play together in previous meetings of the current playoffs.

The guests opened the scoring by converting the majority. Mike Fisher got lucky in the fourth minute. After his throw from the corner of the ice, the puck hit the stick of one of the hosts’ defenders, soared up and, flying over Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who had knelt down, ended up in the net. In the 11th minute, Andy MacDonald restored the balance in a counterattack. He was assisted by Teemu Sellane, who played with particular inspiration in the last matches. He has been in the league for 15 years, but has never won a Stanley Cup. In general, only two participants in this final series have rings of the winner of the honorary trophy in their collection of awards: Scott Niedermayer, who won it three times with the New Jersey Devils, and Ottawa's reserve goalkeeper, the Swiss Martin Gerber, who won last year in the playoffs with the Carolina Hurricanes. At the beginning of the second period, the Canadians converted the majority for the second time. This time their defender Wayne Redden scored with a long-range shot. But this goal did not force the hosts to abandon their initially chosen tactics. They continued to put pressure and still often attacked the opponent to the point of being sent off. The Californians equalized the score for the second time in the sixth minute of the third period. Ryan Getzlaf managed to squeeze close to the opponent's goal and hit an accurate shot with an awkward hand. Well, the decisive goal was scored in the 58th minute. Rob Niedermayer won the battle behind the goal, put the puck on Moen's stick, and he, without further ado, clicked on it and hit the "nine". This was already the fifth goal of the almost two-meter forward in the current playoffs. However, in 82 matches of the regular season, he scored only 11 times.

The Ducks outscored the opponent by almost one and a half times in this match - 32:20. They should have, according to most experts, won more, but Canadian goalkeeper Ray Emiri played very well. Most of the Senators just shrugged their shoulders after the match, trying to explain why their team folded under the opponent's pressure. In terms of physical dimensions, "Ottawa" is not inferior to "Anaheim" and is considered even faster, since it is a little younger: its average age is 27.4 years, compared to 28.5 for the southerners. Ottawa coach Brian Murray suggested that his players were relaxed by the nine-day break: Ottawa completed the semi-final series four days before Anaheim.

The only Russian in Anaheim's lineup, goalkeeper Ilya Bryzgalov, once again remained on the bench. Ottawa forward Oleg Saprykin also remains in reserve: he has an injured hand. But Canadian defenseman Anton Volchenkov took to the ice and, as in previous playoff matches, received a lot of playing time - 25 minutes. He finished the match with a utility rating of minus one, but blocked as many as ten shots from his opponents (all other Ottawa players combined - 12).

It remains to be added that, according to statistics, the team that wins the first final match goes to the Stanley Cup in 77% of cases.

Alexey Kommersant-Zhuk

"Ducks" pecked at "Senators"