Ducks Eliminate Sharks in 6, Win at Home 4-1

After a disappointing game 5 loss, the Anaheim Ducks came out and played in the same dominating fashion that got them the 3-1 series lead, and a red hot finish to the regular season carried them into one of the biggest upsets in recent NHL playoff memory, as the 8th seeded ducks toppled the President's Trophy winning San Jose Sharks in 6 games by winning game 6 4-1.

At the drop of the puck, the rivalry hit the boiling point. Two seconds into the game, the top two superstars of each team, Joe Thornton and Ryan Getzlaf, dropped the gloves and had a fight in mid-ice. Whether or not the strategy worked for the Sharks is debateable, but Anaheim then took 3 consecutive penalties. On the third attempt, the Sharks scored the first goal of the game, as Milan Michalek found a rebound in the slot and shot it past the glove of Jonas Hiller to make it 1-0. But after a series of penalties had San Jose about to go on their fourth power play after killing of a brief Anaheim man advantage, Patrick Marleau took a very bad hooking penalty, giving the Ducks a 15 second 4 on 3. Anaheim only needed 14 seconds, as Corey Perry batted a puck out of midair and over the shoulder of Evgeni Nabokov to tie the game 1-1 on the power play.
Perry's first period goal started a scoring spree for the Ducks. Anaheim outshot the Sharks 15 to 8 in the second period, and were paid for it, courtesy of San Jose defenseman. On Anaheim's third power play, Teemu Selanne got the puck down low and tried to make a backdoor pass to Ryan Getzlaf. But instead of an assist, Selanne scored his first goal of the playoffs, as his pass deflected off a San Jose stick and into the net to give Anaheim the 2-1 lead. Then just over a minute later, Francois Beauchemin one-timed a shot from the point, which ramped off the shaft of another San Jose stick and into the top corner, and Anaheim took a commanding 3-1 lead into the third period.
Anaheim mostly played the third period in defense, creating turnovers in the neutral zone and keeping the puck out of their offensive zone. But The Ducks put on a clinic on puck-possession against the Sharks, as they beat out two icing calls in the period. The second call beaten out resulted in a wide open shot from the high slot by Ryan Getzlaf, who put in the fourth goal of the game for Anaheim to secure the win 4-1.

The San Jose Sharks were never really in the series, and after the first period they were never really in the game. Jonas Hiller and Bobby Ryan took over the series, and the Ducks out-played the Sharks in their own game, as Anaheim controlled the possession minutes throughout. Most of the first period and the third period was played without a whistle, as the first period had end to end action after the dust settled from all the penalty calls, while the third period was the Ducks killing off the clock and keeping the Sharks pinned in their own zone. There was a total of 60 penalty minutes handed out in game 6, with 30 coming in the first period alone. The victorious Anaheim Ducks move on to the Conference Semi-finals to face the Detroit Red Wings, who have not played a game for a week since sweeping the Columbus Blue Jackets, and are now the favorites to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Sharks eliminated in 6.