from Jeff Miller of the OC Register,

What I’m saying is that a series once deemed a certain classic because of how little separated the two teams ended up leaving an aftertaste that was far from classic. Unless you enjoy guzzling milk that’s gone bad.

The Ducks, in the context for the NHL’s conference finals, were utterly dominated when it mattered most, Chicago squeezing the life from them and the drama from a series that deserved a real Game 7 and not just a seventh game.

History will suggest the Ducks were close. Reality will insist they were close for a while but not in the end. Not really.

For me, Game 6 will go down as the most memorable, most memorable in the sense it was staggeringly forgettable.

It would be bad enough for me to say the Ducks showed up not ready to play a game in which they could clinch a berth in Stanley Cup Final. It’s something decidedly worse for their captain to say that.

If you’ve read anything I’ve written the past several days, you know I’ve mentioned this more than once already. But that’s only because it’s something that, in dissecting what just happened to the Ducks and exploring what could happen to them next, can’t be mentioned enough.

more