The celebration continues in Anaheim

Not long after the L.A. Kings won their game 5 in St. Louis 3-2 in overtime, the Anaheim Ducks pulled out the same 3-2 score in OT over Detroit thanks to center Nick Bonino who’s first three career playoff goals have come in each of Anaheim’s three victories in this series which his team now leads 3 games to 2.

The Ducks survived a rough 2nd period specifically killing off a big 5 minute Red Wings power play which immediately was followed by a Ryan Getzlaf tying goal before the end of stanza, which set up an exciting 3rd period and overtime that put this series totally up for grabs! Fortunately for Anaheim their only lead of the game came at the right time…sending the faithful home happy and hopeful of a series clincher on Friday night in Hockeytown.

The following are my postgame locker room chats with several key players in this one…

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau:

Ducks center Nick Bonino the hero of the night:

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf:

Ducks RW Kyle Palmieri who scored his 2nd of the series in the 2nd period

Ducks center Andrew Cogliano who provided plenty of energy all game long:

Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller who made 29 saves and saved his club’s bacon on a few breakaways and very close-in Detroit opportunities:

Ducks dee-man Francois Beauchemin:

And the exciting thing for me (and I would think any local fan) is that it’s FINALLY a very realistic chance that the Ducks will face the Kings in round 2 if they each advance this weekend…something that’s never EVER happened during the playoffs and something that would mean more to hockey in So Cal than even a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. ONE MORE…so don’t screw this up guys! 🙂