from Helene Elliott of the LA Times,
This time was going to be different. After four straight seasons of backing down at the moment of truth, after building what they thought would be enough depth to get through a playoff grind, after bringing Randy Carlyle back to coach them because they believed his calm and resourcefulness would guide them past their mental and emotional postseason hurdles, the ending was the same for the Ducks.
Maybe even more painful than in previous seasons, because they clawed and scratched and were on the brink of forcing a seventh game in the Western Conference finals before they let their last chance slip away.
They got a few steps further than they did a year ago. But if losing to the Nashville Predators in a six-game conference finals one year after the Predators had booted them out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs meant the Ducks had accomplished something, that theory was contradicted by the tears welling in Ryan Kesler’s eyes and the vacant stares of Andrew Cogliano and Corey Perry after their efforts to mount yet another remarkable rally fell short in a 6-3 loss Monday.
“Personally, I don’t think the better team won tonight but it doesn’t really matter what I think,” said Kesler, who sat at his locker for long minutes with his head buried in a towel before he began to unlace his skates and unpeel the tape that held him and his equipment together. “They got the victory and they move on and we’re going home.”
Below, Mark Whicker of the LA Daily News and video of Perry, Getzlaf and Carlyle post-game...
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