The Daily Sniper: Bow to Your Water Fowl Overlords

The Daily Sniper: News and notes from last night's action...

Congratulations to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who are now on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Ducks put the nail in Detroit's coffin last night, winning Game six of the Western Conference Final 4-3. Thanks a lot Anaheim, now we all have to endure six whole days without hockey. The NHL announced yesterday that the Finals won't start until Monday. Add that to a no Game seven in this series and all you get is no hockey this weekend. Great. That's just great. You can also thank none other than our good friends at NBC for that one. Gone, too, are all the articles telling us just how much extra rest Ottawa is going to get. No one needs to take the time to tell us how healthy they are going to be either. Six days is more than enough time for the Ducks to be well rested for Game one.

Emilio Estevez? 'Was not invited', is the end of that sentence. Mark Avery/AP

The biggest story out of Anaheim last night, other than the fact that the Ducks won the game, is how they won it. Some people criticized them earlier in the week, myself included, saying that the Red Wings had out played Anaheim in Games four and five.

The Ducks played solid hockey all night, holding a 4-1 lead with 10 minutes left to play. At that point they seemed to ease off the gas pedal a bit, allowing Detroit to score two power play goals to close the gap. In the end, the Ducks were able to hold on for a well earned 4-3 victory.