Schedule: All games are scheduled to start at 8:00 EDT Games 1 & 2 in Anaheim May 28 and 30. Games 3 & 4 in Ottawa June 2 and 4. Game 5 (if necessary) in Anaheim June 6. Game 6 (if necessary) in Ottawa June 9. Game 7 (if necessary) in Anaheim June 11
Both teams had strong regular season records. They are both in the finals because they are physical fore-checking teams who have strong defensive oriented systems. Anaheim at times has looked lazy and tired as they were outplayed by Detroit and Vancouver at times. Ottawa has looked like the better team in all 3 previous rounds of the playoffs. But Ottawa has not faced a physically punishing team like Anaheim. Neither team has won a Stanley Cup before. The following will summarize who the characters in the game are.
Forwards
Anaheim likes to roll three lines. The fourth line (Brady May, Ryan Carter, and Joe Motzko) sees very little time on the ice. Here are their nine forwards: Teemu Selanne, Andy McDonald, Todd Marchant ,Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Dustin Penner, Samuel Pahlsson, Travis Moen, Rob Niedermayer. Selanne, Getzlaf and McDonald see the most powerplay action. Pahlsson, Marchant, R. Niedermayer, Moen, and Getzlaf kill penalties. Anaheim has balanced scoring with nobody scoring more than five goals while Ottawa depends mainly on their top three of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. Their 2nd and 3rd line players are Mike Comrie, Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, Peter Schaefer and Antoine Vermette. Heatley is the NHL playoff scoring leader 21 points). Spezza is 2nd (20 ponts). Daniel Alfreddson leads the NHL playoffs with ten goals. Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley are the main forwards on the power play. Alfredsson, Vermette, Fisher, Kelly, Schaeffer and Dean McAmmond work the penalty kill.
Defense
Anaheim mainly relies on Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. 3rd on the depth chart is Francois Beauchemin and 4th is Sean O’Donnell. Pronger will see the most ice time as he plays on the power play penalty kill and he must play against the Alfredsson-Heatley-Spezza line. Pronger was the key player in helping Edmonton reach the Stanley Cup Finals last season. Niedermayer brings experience from winning three Cups with New Jersey. Pronger, Niedermayer and Beauchemin play the point on the power play. Pronger, Niedermayer, Beauchemin and O’Donnell are the penalty killers. Ottawa’s defenseman pairings are Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros. #2 is Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov. Joseph Corvo and Tom Preissing are the third defensive pairing. Redden and Corvo run the point on the power play. Phillips, Volchenkov and Redden are the primary penalty killers.
Goaltending
Jean-Sebastien Giguere carried Anaheim to game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. He was the playoffs MVP that season. He is playing like he did in 2003, giving Anaheim a chance to win every time they take the ice. He is a typical butterfly goalie. His weakness would be handling the puck. Ilya Bryzgalov is a very good backup. He possesses great size and goaltending instincts. But he is not the most agile goaltender. He won 3 out of 4 games in the first round versus Minnesota. Ray Emery started this season as the backup to Martin Gerber. Gerber and Ottawa struggled early in the season and that prompted Emery’s promotion. He is very athletic and big for a goaltender. This is his first season as the starting goaltender for Ottawa. Gerber was the starting goaltender for the Carolina Hurricanes until he was benched in favor of Cam Ward in game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in 2006. Gerber is a good teammate with a good glove hand.
Coaching
Bryan Murray has coached the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks and now the Ottawa Senators. John Paddock is the only coach to lead three different franchises to Calder Cup wins (Maine in 1984, Hershey in 1988 and Hartford in 2000). As a player he played 87 regular season NHL games and 445 AHL games winning two Calder Cups with Maine in 1978 and 1979. Greg Carvel joined Anaheim in 1999 as a scout and was promoted to video coaching in 2002. Then he was an assistant coach with Anaheim in 2003 before joining Ottawa in August 2004. He was captain of St. Lawrence of the ECAC in 1992-93. Ron Low played 11 NHL seasons with Toronto, Washington, Detroit, Quebec, Edmonton and New Jersey as a goaltender. He was a head coach for the New York Rangers and Edmonton. He was an assistant coach for Edmonton, the 1990 Stanley Cup Champions.
Randy Carlyle spent six seasons as head coach of the Manitoba Moose after 17 seasons as a defenseman for Toronto, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg. Dave Farrish played 7 seasons in the NHL with Toronto, Quebec and the New York Rangers. He began his coaching career with Moncton of the American League. He coached the Louisiana IceGators in the East Coast Hockey League to four consecutive division championships from 2000-01 to 2003-04. He was ECHL Coach of the Year in 2001-02. Newell Brown as a player helped the Cornwall Royals win the Memorial Cup in 1979. He was captain at Michigan State of the CCHA for three seasons from 1981-82 to 1983-84. He has previously been an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Goaltending Consultant Francois Allaire is considered one of the top experts on goaltending in the world. He was the goaltending coach for the Montreal Canadiens when they won in 1986 and again in 1993. He has worked with over 40 goaltenders in the NHL.
