And so, we bid adieu to the Sharks and Flames. With just two games remaining in the first round, here are five things on my mind:
1. Here's the bottom line about the first-round California classic between San Jose and Anaheim: If you watched the series, you know the eighth-seeded Ducks were flat-out better than the top-seeded Sharks. In this particular case, I don't care about the regular-season records or the point totals. There are reasons the clubs finished where they did. Right now -- and now is when it really counts -- the Ducks are better than the Sharks. You don't have to take my word for it, though. Just listen to Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle.
"To a man, they were better than us," Boyle told reporters after a season-ending 4-1 loss Monday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. "Their goalie was better than ours. Their defensemen were better than ours. And their forwards were better than ours."
After the game, when I assessed the series, I came away feeling exactly the same way. In goal, playoff rookie Jonas Hiller was superior to Sharks vet Evgeni Nabokov. Hiller made 30 or more saves in each of the six games. He made all the big stops. Simply, Nabokov couldn't match Hiller at the other end.
On defense, the Ducks start with a pair of future first-ballot Hall of Famers -- Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. It doesn't get any better than that. The Ducks' dynamic defensive duo is supported by Francois Beauchemin, who had been sidelined since November after knee surgery, as well as recently acquired defensemen Ryan Whitney and James Wisniewski. That's a pretty strong group.
And up front, they're led by three of the game's top young power forwards -- Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan. Big and skilled, they put tremendous pressure on opponents. In Game 6, Getzlaf collected the Gordie Howe hat trick, scoring a goal, dishing out an assist and engaging in a fight. The throw-down was a spirited battle against Sharks top pivot Joe Thornton off the opening draw. In Game 5, Getzlaf and Thornton exchanged words. This time, they decided to exchange punches.
On the whole, I thought the Ducks' forwards contributed a lot more to their cause than their rivals. Skaters such as vet Todd Marchant and inexperienced Mike Brown provided energy and really took a bite out of the game at key times during the series.
The Sharks will be mighty disappointed because of the lofty expectations they created for themselves with a franchise-record regular-season campaign. And they should be disappointed. In this series, though, they were beaten by a better team -- no matter what the regular-season records say.
2. I think Anaheim GM Bob Murray and his staff deserve a lot of credit for their shrewd roster retooling in the weeks and days leading up to the March 4 trade deadline. The Ducks were able to add important pieces to their puzzle without having to surrender valuable assets in return. And Murray did so while dealing with very limited salary-cap flexibility. Murray replaced Brian Burke, who left after not wanting to sign a new deal to stay on the West Coast. The new boss is definitely different from the old boss. Murray takes a more quiet approach, but that doesn't mean he's doing any less of a good job.
On the flip side, Sharks ownership will have questions about the team's early playoff exit. The heat under GM Doug Wilson's chair in San Jose has gotten a little more intense. I think Wilson will survive the latest disappointment, but I won't be shocked if it goes the other way. It no doubt will be interesting to see how Wilson deals with team captain Patrick Marleau, who didn't play well coming off a late-season injury, and Thornton. Neither star provided consistently strong play. Coming off this loss, many Bay Area fans will want the team to go in another direction. Stay tuned.
3. In the beginning of the season, the Blackhawks seemed to have no room at the inn for veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. The club had signed free-agent stopper Cristobal Huet during the summer, and Khabibulin seemed destined to leave town. He was placed on waivers during training camp but returned to the Windy City when there were no takers. Slowly, from the opening week of the season, the Russian-born stopper began to take command of the crease. On Monday night, in the club's 4-1 series-clinching win at Calgary's Saddledome, the goalie stopped 43 shots. Interestingly, Khabibulin can become a free agent in the summer. I'm sure he and his agent, Jay Grossman, are quite happy about that. If he can push the young Blackhawks further down the playoff path, I'll be interested to see which path club management takes with its veteran goaltending duo.
4. You can count on certain things in life: death, taxes and Todd Bertuzzi taking a dumb penalty at the wrong time. In the Flames' Game 6 season-ending loss, Bertuzzi continued to defy logic by taking yet another ill-timed penalty in the opening minutes of the life-or-death hockey game. In this situation, Bertuzzi clubbed Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook with a very poorly disguised elbow to the head 1 minute, 27 seconds into the first period. The Hawks made Bertuzzi pay for his early miscue by scoring a power-play goal (Patrick Kane) just 53 seconds after the penalty-box door slammed behind him. Next season, GM Darryl Sutter would be wise to take a pass on re-signing Bertuzzi, who at this point of his career definitely hurts his team more than he helps.
5. If we reach overtime in either of Tuesday night's series deciders, the home team might not have such a warm and fuzzy feeling. In Game 7 overtime contests, the visiting squad has advanced in each of the past six games. Of course, if you want to look at the flip side of this situation, you might say the home team is due for a happier ending. Either way, enjoy the final night of the first round.
Check out what NHL writers Scott Burnside, E.J. Hradek and Pierre LeBrun and other members of ESPN.com's team have to say as they cover the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. They'll be checking in from various sites all the way through the Cup finals.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
