Past Two Cup Champs Set to Battle It Out

RED WINGS VS. DUCKS

By Rocky Bonanno - NHL.com Staff Writer

"I don't know if it's ever good facing Detroit. But we're not focusing on Detroit right now. We'll focus on that (Tuesday)."
-- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

As you would expect, the NHL's last two Stanley Cup champions played a hard-fought, spirited four-game regular season series in 2008-09 that produced three one-goal games. What could these teams do for an encore in the postseason? We'll find out soon enough.

"I don't know if it's ever good facing Detroit," coach Randy Carlyle said after his eighth-seeded Ducks finished an upset of top-seeded San Jose on Monday night. "But we're not focusing on Detroit right now. We'll focus on that (Tuesday)."

No doubt, Carlyle's preparation will include watching tape of all four regular-season meetings between Anaheim and Detroit, and here's what he'll find: the Red Wings took three of four, outscored and outshot the Ducks 15-11 and 152-104, respectively, and earned seven of eight possible points in the standings. Each squad excelled on the power play, with Detroit converting on five of 20 chances (25 percent) and Anaheim going 5-for-18 (27.8).

Detroit and Anaheim have met in the postseason on four previous occasions, each winning two series. In the 18 total games, the Red Wings have a 10-8 advantage in wins and have outscored the Ducks 53-40. They last met in the 2007 Western Conference Finals, won by Anaheim in six games.

Here is how these teams fared during their regular-season matchups.

Read the rest of the story here.

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