ANAHEIM - Ducks are not usually considered dangerous but when they are chasing a Stanley Cup ice hockey trophy it seems they can turn quite vicious.
The most penalised team of the regular season, Anaheim has continued to display a mean streak throughout the playoffs, baring their claws
again to beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in a rough-and-tumble Game One of the finals.
Through the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Ducks hacked, whacked and pounded the Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings into submission, advancing to the Stanley Cup for the second time in five years.
Anaheim stuck with the hard-hitting game plan for Game One but the Senators reminded the Ducks that their undisciplined play came at a price, Ottawa scoring both goals on powerplays.
"I've talked about the discipline factor," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle told reporters.
"It's like your kids at home, sometimes there's a thousand different ways to tell them. Some of the penalties...are unacceptable.
"We do take too many penalties and it taxes people in certain situations. We want to limit the number of penalties. Simple as that but sometimes it's easier said than done."
Superb penalty killing through the opening two series against the Wild and Canucks, allowed the Ducks to take liberties without paying the consequences as they won both series in five games.
But the Red Wings enjoyed success with the man advantage and the key to victory for the Senators will also be their ability to capitalise on Anaheim's indiscretions.
"At some point we have to look in the mirror and see what we're doing wrong," Ducks netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "It's not because we can't do it. We can do it. We can control our sticks, we can move our feet, we can be disciplined after the whistle.
"Those are all things that will hurt you at the end of the day. We've seen it against Detroit.
"You just can't keep giving teams like that a chance to score like that."
- REUTERS
