DUCKS DUMP SHARKS TO COMPLETE OPENING ROUND UPSET

The San Jose Sharks lost game one in their opening round NHL playoff series, and never looked like the same team after that.  Gone was the efficient, versatile team that finished the regular season with a franchise record point total and won the President’s Trophy with the top record in the NHL.  The Sharks looked lost and rudderless, as the gritty Ducks became more confident as the series progressed.  On Monday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, the Ducks defeated the Sharks 4-1 to win the series 4 games to 2.

San Jose has been a franchise unfortunately characterized by dominating regular season performances followed by embarrassing postseason collapses, and this may have been their biggest.  Added to the early exit this year is the ignominy of becoming only the fourth President’s trophy winner in NHL history to lose in the first round.  The Sharks got off to a good start in game six, with Milan Michalek’s unassisted power play goal midway through the first period giving them a short lived 1-0 lead.  That would be their last lead of the game, however, and the Ducks’ Corey Perry evened the contest at 12:33 assisted by Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Pronger.  The Ducks had to take something of a ‘moral victory’ from being tied at this point thanks to the continued exceptional goaltending on Jonas Hiller, as the Sharks outshot them 18-9 in the opening twenty minutes.

The Ducks would take over the game in the second period, with Teemu Selanne scoring on the powerplay at 13:03 assisted by Chris Pronger and Scott Neidermeyer to give his team a 2-1 lead.  Less than 90 seconds later Francois Beauchemin would score to make it 3-1 assisted by Ryan Carter and Mike Brown.  Anaheim would punctuate their victory at 17:06 of the third period on Ryan Getzlaf’s goal assisted by Rob Niedermayer and Drew Miller to produce the final 4-1 margin.

After the game, Ryan Whitney reiterated what his team had just demonstrated on the ice:

"I think if you ask anyone, we're not an eight seed. Everyone in here knows that, and I think now everyone in hockey pretty much sees it, too."

The mood was downbeat in the Sharks’ dressing room as defenseman Dan Boyle admitted that they were beaten by the better team in this series:

"To a man, they were better. Their goalie was better than ours. Their defense was better, and their forwards were better. We had a great regular season and a disappointing playoff, and for that, you have to give them credit."

Sharks’ coach Todd McLellan added:

"Did we get what we deserved? We could have played better, obviously, in some games. It took us a while once our character was challenged, and we responded. The lesson has to be learned that we can't give games away."

With the loss, San Jose dropped to 2-13 in the sixth game of playoff series.  The Ducks now get a few days off before they start their second round matchup against the Detroit Red Wings.  Detroit swept the Columbus Blue Jackets in their first sound series.