Underdogs Having Their Day

The Stanley Cup playoffs turned upside down is good for hockey, Duck captain Paul Kariya said.

Colorado and Detroit, teams that have won five of the last seven cups, were both eliminated in the first round, while Minnesota, a third-year expansion team, and the Ducks, an NHL doormat the last two seasons, advanced.

“I think that’s fantastic for hockey,” Kariya said. “It shows there is more parity in the league. Everyone wants their team to have a chance. This shows that teams are a lot closer now. Look at the way we turned things around in one year. It’s great.”

No word on whether the fans in Colorado and Detroit think it’s great.

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The Ducks’ first-round upset of the Red Wings and the Wild’s elimination of the Avalanche weren’t flukes, according to Dallas Coach Dave Tippett.

“Look at how Minnesota, Anaheim and Edmonton played down the stretch. [They] were three of the better teams in the league,” he said. “If they’re getting to this point now, they’re all good teams. You don’t get to play in the second round unless you’re a good team. You don’t overlook anybody and don’t look past anything.”

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In case the Ducks forget what they’re pursuing, club officials affixed a picture of the Stanley Cup to the wall of their locker room at American Airlines Center, situating it to be the last thing players see when they exit to go onto the ice.

A similar but larger picture hangs in the Ducks’ locker room at the Arrowhead Pond. Coach Mike Babcock told the team’s media relations representatives the cup’s image had to travel with the team, so media relations director Alex Gilchrist downloaded a new photo from the NHL and had it framed in time for Thursday’s morning skate.

“It was fast,” Gilchrist said. “I was a little nervous that it might not be done in time.”

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Before Thursday, the longest game in Duck history was a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on April 10 at Detroit in Game 1 of their first-round series. Kariya ended that one with a goal at 3:18 of the third overtime.

The Stars’ longest game was a 3-2 victory over the Oilers on April 27, 1999, at Edmonton, which ended at 17:34 of the third overtime.

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Before Thursday’s games, teams that had won the opener of a best-of-seven series had gone on to win the series 68.3% of the time, or 317 of 464 series since the best-of-seven format was adopted in 1939.