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Ducks oust top-seeded Sharks

Anaheim 4 San Jose 1ANAHEIM, Calif. — Right when the opening puck dropped, Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Thornton dropped gloves. The star centres’ simmering dislike erupted into a brawl dominated by Thornton, who pummelled Getzlaf with at least two flush blows to the face.
Mike Grier, Mike Brown
San Jose Sharks right wing Mike Grier (25) moves the puck past Anaheim Ducks right wing Mike Brown (13) in the second period of a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Anaheim

Anaheim 4 San Jose 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Right when the opening puck dropped, Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Thornton dropped gloves. The star centres’ simmering dislike erupted into a brawl dominated by Thornton, who pummelled Getzlaf with at least two flush blows to the face.

Getzlaf took it and smiled, knowing he still could win the only important fight.

And that’s exactly what happened in the waning minutes of Game 6. Getzlaf scored the knockout goal as the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks ousted the not-so-mighty San Jose Sharks from the post-season with a 4-1 victory Monday night.

Teemu Selanne and Francois Beauchemin put Anaheim ahead with their first playoff goals on fortunate deflections 43 seconds apart in the second period, and the Ducks coolly finished off the Presidents’ Trophy winners in an upset that could resonate for years in this juicy in-state rivalry.

“I think if you ask anyone, we’re not an eight seed,” defenceman Ryan Whitney said. “Everyone in here knows that, and I think now everyone in hockey pretty much sees it, too.”

Jonas Hiller made 36 saves to finish his phenomenal playoff series debut for the Ducks, who won a fight-filled clincher to complete a remarkable playoff upset two years after winning the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.

The clubs’ final meeting was a slugfest with 60 total penalty minutes and a long series of brawls between Anaheim’s goals and Hiller’s saves. It all started with the stunning fight between Getzlaf and Thornton, who traded shoves and harsh words two days earlier in San Jose.

“Joe kind of came in and said, ’Do you want to go tonight?”’ Getzlaf said. “I had every intention of asking him, so it was a situation that carried over from last game. We kind of knew what we were doing. ... (In Game 5) I didn’t want give them any spark. Tonight, I felt, was the opportunity to redeem myself.”

Corey Perry also scored as Anaheim advanced to face second-seeded Detroit, which swept Columbus out of the first round. The defending Stanley Cup champions are favourites to defend their title — but few gave the Ducks much chance against the Sharks, either.

With a dynamic offensive effort that negated all the Sharks’ physical bluster, Anaheim became the third team to beat the NHL’s top regular-season club in the first round since 2000, and just the fifth since 1968. The Ducks are the eighth No. 8 seed to win a playoff series since 1994, largely dominating the league’s first all-California post-season series in 40 years.

Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves and Milan Michalek scored the game’s first goal for the Sharks, who completed the biggest playoff collapse in a franchise history full of them. San Jose led the NHL with franchise records for points (117) and wins (53) during the regular season, but the club has been past the second round of the post-season just once, in 2004.

The Ducks were outshot in every game, but Hiller, the Swiss goalie, allowed just 10 goals and posted two shutouts.

“Did we get what we deserved? We could have played better, obviously, in some games,” said Sharks rookie coach Todd McLellan, an assistant in Detroit last year. “It took us a while once our character was challenged, and we responded. The lesson has to be learned that we can’t give games away.”