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Frustration setting in Giguere, penalty kill prove too much for Wild in Game 2Posted: Tuesday May 13, 2003 2:59 AM
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mike Babcock intimated that his Mighty Ducks would play better. Adam Oates said that if there was one element that might prove critical against the Wild in Game 2, it was the penalty kill. Both men knew of what they spoke. Babcock’s charges skated much better than in Game 1, setting the tone in the first few shifts with aggressive forechecking and good low rotations in the offensive zone. And when Oates alluded to the importance of the penalty kill, I think he only had defense in mind. Instead, the Ducks scored both goals of the game short-handed. Not that the Wild didn’t have their chances. They certainly did. But as has been the case throughout these playoffs, goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere made the difference. He didn’t have to make the volume of saves he has become accustomed to this spring, but he made a handful of difficult ones at critical junctures. Plus, his defensemen were tireless, selfless and relentless in closing on rebounds and with their shot blocking. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire gave the Ducks credit for playing the game with speed -- to great effect -- but he also evaluated that he had "six or seven guys who weren’t at their best." For example, when pressed, Lemaire stated that Marian Gaborik didn’t start playing like he needed to until the score was 2-0. Lemaire elaborated that his coaching staff sensed that the Wild was flat before the game, a byproduct, he surmised, of not being a prohibitive underdog, as was the case in the first two rounds. In short, his team’s competitiveness has changed with the competition. Lemaire knows that the only thing that will get the Wild untracked is a goal -- a tally around which to rally. Something to get his guys to feel good about themselves; give them confidence and energy. Essential to getting to Giguere, according to Lemaire, is getting "pucks and people to the paint." In Game 2, too often when the Wild got shots through to the net, they didn’t have any forwards in the vicinity to capitalize. Other times, when traffic was converging on Giguere, the puck never got through. If that scenario sounds frustratingly familiar, it’s because the Mighty Ducks already have dispatched two opponents this postseason, both of whom left muttering the same lament.
Three StarsFirst Star: Giguere recorded his second consecutive shutout, fourth this year against the Wild. Can you spell i-n-t-i-m-i-d-a-t-i-o-n? Second Star: Keith Carney was a force all night long in the Ducks zone. He was seemingly everywhere. Third Star: Rob Niedermayer scored the game's second goal on a breakaway and, for the second straight night, kept Gaborik off balance with excellent defense.
Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for SI.com. Eliot will provide Stanley Cup Playoffs commentary throughout the postseason and is also broadcasting games for NHL Radio.
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