This Ending Didn’t Quite Fit to a T

The Edmonton Oilers jammed their new caps onto their heads with a mixture of glee and disbelief, kids who couldn’t wait to play with toys they didn’t dare dream they’d get.

They were the Western Conference champions, and they had the aches and pains and bruises to prove it. As well as the caps and T-shirts, handed out to them seconds after their 2-1 victory at the Arrowhead Pond completed their five-game triumph over the spirited but self-destructive Mighty Ducks on Saturday.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” said Oilers winger Fernando Pisani, an Edmonton native who has been a revelation in the playoffs with his energy and clutch scoring.

“The hat fits really nice.”

While the Oilers mobbed goaltender Dwayne Roloson and hugged one another and screamed to the high heavens in exhilaration, the Ducks clustered at the other end of the ice, about 150 feet away, in their own universe. They couldn’t bear to watch their foes celebrate, nor could they turn away.

“It’s like looking into the sun,” rookie winger Dustin Penner said. “You don’t want to, but you do.

“You wonder what it would be like, and you’re envious. Bitter and envious.”

Although their wounds were still raw Saturday night and more than a few players’ eyes were suspiciously damp in their subdued locker room, the Ducks knew they had only themselves to blame for failing to build upon the emotional swing they’d created by scoring four times in Game 3 and winning Game 4 at Edmonton.

They converted only three of 39 power plays in the series, including one of 11 chances Saturday. The rust they’d accumulated during eight days’ rest after their sweep of Colorado dulled their performance in their first game against the Oilers, but they had no excuses after that. They’d gradually raised the level of their game only to see the Oilers respond in kind and sweep all three games played in Anaheim.

“They forced us to be better,” Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish said. “We are a much better team now, coming through these last few games.”

That’s not much consolation to the Ducks, although they predicted the Oilers will have a good chance to win the Stanley Cup no matter if Carolina or Buffalo is the Eastern champion.

The Ducks wanted to be the ones who got the caps and T-shirts and the chance to play another series. They’d started to believe they could beat the odds and recover after losing the first three games to Edmonton, but they didn’t give themselves a chance Saturday.

“We took some bad penalties, especially myself, and that kind of killed the momentum,” Penner said. “It’s not a matter that they wanted it more, because this group of guys wanted it just as much.”

The difference was that the Oilers knew how to get it, how to remain calm when the crowd was roaring and the tempo was accelerating and the Ducks were doing all that they could to prolong the season at least one more game.

“We got back to the basics of hockey,” veteran Oilers forward Ryan Smyth said. “Stops and starts. Work ethic.”

They were also patient and opportunistic, never panicking despite being outshot in every game. Playing their sixth game in 11 days -- and with many players still weakened by a virus that tore through the locker room last week -- the Oilers found a way to close out a series that might have swung in the Ducks’ favor had it continued.

Although the Ducks scored first Saturday, the Oilers retaliated with two goals in 4 minutes 49 seconds in the second period to take the lead.

They fended off four Ducks power plays in the third period, although the Ducks undermined their own efforts by refusing to shoot and instead overpassing in search of the perfect shot on an ice surface that was choppy and worn and couldn’t guarantee the puck would slide as it should.

“We had all the chances in the world to score five on three and five on four,” Ducks defenseman Ruslan Salei said. “We scored one goal. It’s the biggest reason we lost today. Playing from behind, it’s tough to win the game.”

Teammate Chris Kunitz, in an understatement, acknowledged that the power play struggled “a little bit.” The bounces that went the Ducks’ way the previous two games were missing too, he said.

“It’s got to be in your mind that we made it to the top four, but right now it’s a little bitter taste in your mouth,” he said.

For Kunitz and Penner and Ryan Getzlaf, youngsters who are just launching their careers, it’s easy to believe there will be a next year, another chance to get their names engraved on the Cup. For Teemu Selanne, who will be 36 in July, there might not be many more opportunities, and he knows it.

“I hope everybody is going to remember this feeling, how tough it is,” said the fleet Finn, who was held to one goal in five games against the Oilers and wasn’t a factor on the power play. “Remembering this will make them way stronger....

“They were an excellent team, and they made our job very tough. We didn’t get an inch easily.

“I’m disappointed. We were not done yet. We were playing so well, and everybody has lots of energy.”

He paused to steady a voice that had begun to waver. “It’s hockey and nobody died,” he said, determined to regain his natural buoyant spirits. “Tomorrow is going to be sunny.”

And the ice will melt on the Ducks’ season, a season of great progress that fell short of the ultimate satisfaction.