DUCKS ON A WING WILL TAKE THE WINGS!
Make no mistake, the Anaheim Ducks are finding their stride at just the right time.
To say that they're jelling might be an understatement. To state that they're coming together wouldn't be doing them justice.
Right now, it's become a perfect storm for coach Randy Carlyle's club. There's no facet of the game that isn't functioning at a high level.
The goaltending has been stellar with both J.S. Giguere and Ilya Bryzgalov having starred thus far in the playoffs.
The defense, anchored by stalwarts Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin has been bruising and nearly impenetrable. Opponents are finding it practically impossible to breach Anaheim's blueline. Moreover, the defensemen are making huge contributions offensively with Pronger being the most prominent of those racking up the points.
And the forwards need not take a backseat to anyone. Linemates Teemu Selanne and Andy McDonald have taken their regular season excellence and carried it right over to the playoffs.
Not to be outdone, the aggressive line of young studs Corey Perry, Dustin Penner and Ryan Getzlaf has been both productive and electric. No longer just pups, this trio has morphed into a pack of big dogs when it comes to getting the job done.
What's scary about the Ducks is that whatever brand of hockey they're required to play, they've got the personnel to do it. They've got the muscle and grit to play a tight, grind-it-out game if necessary. They're also perfectly capable of opening it up and flooding the attacking zone with a wave of forwards and defensemen.
Clearly, Anaheim has the versatility to beat you in a variety of different ways. One-trick ponies they're not!
The Ducks are undeniably on a roll. Having dispatched both Minnesota and Vancouver in Rounds 1 and 2 of the playoffs, Anaheim has the look of a team that will be mighty tough to stop. They're brimming with confidence and sitting on a mountain of momentum.
They've taken wing and as such should be able to take out the Red Wings of Detroit, their opponent in the Conference Finals.
On the surface, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which the Ducks come up short and don't advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. The odds, the stats, as well as the matchups all seem to favor Anaheim.
And you have to wonder if Detroit's prominent older players might begin to wear down the deeper they get into the playoffs. Goalie Dominik Hasek (42), defensemen Chris Chelios (45) and Nicklas Lidstrom (37) and forward Kris Draper (36) have long ago achieved greybeard status and if fatigue becomes a factor for them, Detroit is as good as done.
Yes, the Wings do have a couple dangerous scoring threats in standouts Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg but the feeling here is that Anaheim's vaunted defense will find a way to neutralize them. Should that be the case, the Wings will be up against it because they have limited offensive firepower.
One of the more intriguing subplots of the series is that Detroit's coach Mike Babcock was at the Ducks' helm when Anaheim nearly won the Cup in '03, falling in seven games to New Jersey. An inability to work out a contract extension prompted Babcock to vacate Southern California and land in the hockey hotbed of Motown.
You know that Babcock would like nothing better than to derail the Ducks and stick it to his former employers. On the flip side, Anaheim would take plenty of pleasure in helping to put Babcock in his place. The Babcock factor should spice things up and intensify what already figures to be a heated series.
But when the final buzzer sounds and the teams congregate for the traditional handshake, it'll be the Ducks wearing the smiles. They're simply too big, too stingy, too deep, too rugged, too resourceful and finally, too good for Detroit.
In the end, the Red Wings will get clipped and the only winging going on will that done by the high flying Ducks.