Minnesota Wild 0
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 4
----------------------
ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- For a very brief moment, Jean-Sebastien Giguere showed he's human.
Giguere became the first goaltender in 58 years to start a playoff series with three shutouts, backstopping the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to a 4-0 blanking of the Minnesota Wild that moved them within one win of their first Stanley Cup Finals berth.
Giguere stopped 35 shots and extended his shutout streak to 213 minutes, 17 seconds as the Ducks grabbed a three games to none lead in the Western Conference finals. Six goalies have recorded three straight playoff shutouts, but Toronto's Frank McCool was the only one to get them at the start of a series, doing it against Detroit in the 1945 Stanley Cup Finals.
Ironically, the Wild might draw inspiration from that series since the Red Wings rallied for three wins before falling to the Maple Leafs in Game Seven. Just two teams in NHL history have won series after trailing three games to none, although Minnesota this year became the first to come back from 3-1 deficits twice in the same postseason.
Game Four is Friday at Anaheim, where the Ducks will try to become the first time in 11 years to complete a sweep in the conference finals.
The Wild's most immediate task is getting the puck past Giguere, who has stopped all 98 shots in the series.
The only hint that he is human came with 15 minutes to go in the third period, when Matt Johnson shoved Ducks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh into Giguere, knocking off his mask.
Paul Kariya came to life with two goals and Steve Rucchin and rookie Stanislav Chistov also scored in a rare postseason laugher for Anaheim. Of the Ducks' previous 10 playoff wins, nine were by a single goal. Their streak of one-goal victories ended with a 2-0 triumph in Game Two.
------------------------------
Sie sind vermutlich noch nicht im Forum angemeldet - Klicken Sie hier um sich kostenlos anzumelden
Offline
