The Anaheim Ducks won Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinals against the Detroit Red Wings courtesy of a powerplay goal from veteran Teemu Selanne.
The 42-year old scored his 10th career playoff game-winner just 1:29 into the third to break a 1-1 deadlock.
"When you have a passion for scoring goals, it doesn't matter who old you are," said Selanne. "Maybe the celebrations go down a little bit, but inside it's the same feeling."
The Ducks were the first to strike thanks to a Nick Bonino face-off win deep in the Wings zone. Bonino won the faceoff back to Cam Fowler who fired it on goal; Bonino then redirected the shot past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard. The Wings would eventually tie it on the powerplay with Dan Clearly redirected a shot Jakub Kindl through the legs of Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller.
Despite the early goals, Hiller and Howard were terrific in the game, making a combined 48 saves in the game.
"It's definitely nice," Hiller said after the win. "It's been a long time since I played the last playoff game. I was real excited to come to the rink today. I wanted to play as well as possible. It's definitely nice to start with a win. It gives you, definitely, good feeling. But at the same time, one win doesn't do a whole lot. The whole team has to come with the same attitude the next game and we have to keep playing the same way."
The Red Wings had a plethora of prime scoring chances, but failed throughout. Their allowed a great deal of rushes from Ducks into their zone and their overall defensive play was looked down upon by their coach Mike Babcock.
"My biggest concern is that we looked exactly as we did in the first 20 or 25 games of the season, where we couldn't move the puck on the back [end]," Babcock said. "We weren't efficient. We weren't a five-man unit. We didn't look organized in that way. We weren't relentless in the offensive zone because we came with speed. When you spend so much time in your own zone, you spend much time in the offensive zone."
Francois Beauchemin capped the scoring with an empty net goal in the waning moments.
Game 2 takes place on Thursday May 2 at 10 PM EST.
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