Turnovers on Parade
Amazing how the Ducks were basically out-hustled for most of Game 5, only to benefit from two fortuitous turns. Detroit missed an empty net with about a minute left, ringing a post and sending play the other way, where the Ducks knotted the score at the end of the rush. After raising his arms in first-goal (in the game, in the playoffs, in his post season career) heroism earlier in the game, Detroit d-man Lelja turned the puck over in front of his own net. The lucky duck Selanne was there (somewhat behind the play, unless you’d like to claim he was agressively forechecking) to scoop and shoot the loose puck. Being out-raced helped in this case, as Selanne probably should have been up ice when Lelja got poke-checked, but no reasonable bounce is out of bounds in the playoffs.
Sitting Ducks tonight? Probably Parros, again. I’m secretly (or not) hoping that the Ducks advance, and Parros gets to lay at least one serious body on the parade of Ottawa’s top linemates. A bit of New Jersey payback, by way of the O.C. (twice, if you count Parros’ first stint in Los Angeles).