Just call the Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup champions.
Proving that they are the best team in the NHL, the Ducks won the franchise’s first league title in its 14-year existence with a dominating 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 on Wednesday night before a standing room crowd of 17,372 at the Honda Center.
Behind a balanced offense and suffocating defense, the Ducks won the best of seven series 4-1 to become the first California team to win the Cup while denying a Canadian team its first since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Kings in 1993.
Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer won the Conn Smyth Trophy Award, given to the most valuable player.
“That was something I’ll never forget,” he said. “You can’t even dream that stuff. It doesn’t get any better.”
The Ducks, who went 16-5 in the playoffs, received two goals from Travis Moen and one each by Andy McDonald, Rob Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin and Corey Perry in Game 5.
In limited work, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere finished with only 11 saves, giving up two second-period goals to Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson.
The Ducks, who won 3-2 at Ottawa on Monday, had two players back in the lineup who did not play in Game 4 in defenseman Chris Pronger (one-game suspension) and winger Chris Kunitz (abdominal injury).
But they faced an Ottawa team that sported a different look when it came to line combinations. The Senators’ top line of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Alfredsson was broken up with each playing with a different forward group.
Spezza centered a line with Chris Neil and Antoine Vermette, while Alfredsson skated with Mike Fisher’s line and Heatley worked on a line with Mike Comrie and Chris Kelley.
With their lead trimmed to 3-2 late in the second period, the Ducks responded on a power-play opportunity with Beauchemin’s fourth goal of the postseason.
McDonald made the play when he made a nifty drop pass for Beauchemin, who stepped in from the left point and beat goalie Ray Emery with a blast to the far post at 18:28 to give the Ducks a two-goal lead heading into the final period.
Over the final 20 minutes, the Ducks did what they had to close the series.
Moen scored his second goal of the game when he redirected a blue line shot by Scott Niedermayer to give the Ducks a 5-2 lead at 4:01.
The Ducks finished the scoring when Perry pounced on a loose puck and scored from the high slot at 17:00.
