ANAHEIM — There are pairings of forwards across the National Hockey League that are big, and there are plenty of top-line tandems that are good. But is there a centre-winger couple anywhere that is as physical and skilled as Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry?
“I think there is not,” said their coach Bruce Boudreau, whose last gig included sending Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom over the boards.
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They are fixtures atop our Canadian Olympic lineup, Getzlaf and Perry, and on nights like Thursday they remind us all just how dominant a pairing they can be. A prematurely balding centreman from Regina, and his pasty, Peterborough-born right-winger Perry, who might have got a sunscreen bonus in the last contract he signed in sunny SoCal. Two hockey studs, seemingly born, built and bred for shifts like the ones that buried Calgary in Game 1.
But, as they approach their 30th birthdays — Getzlaf goes first on May 10, followed by Perry six days later — how is it these two haven’t hoisted a Stanley Cup since they were 22?
“You’re 21 years old,” said Perry, looking back to the spring of 2007, which culminated in a Cup victory over Ottawa. “You always think you can do this every year. You get to the playoffs? Anything can happen, right? Well, it’s not that easy.”
Since that Cup, the Anaheim Ducks have become San Jose Sharks Light — an exceptionally good team that has been unable to get out of the West. At least they did it once, yes, but that was a different time on a different team. A galaxy far, far away, when you talk to the two men that Perry and Getzlaf have grown into.
“Back then there were older guys. Scotty (Niedermayer), Jiggy (J.S. Giguere), Prongs (Chris Pronger), Robby (Niedermayer). Teemu (Selanne),” said Perry, listing off his 2007 teammates. “It was their team. Hopefully we can get this over the hump, but you’ve got to go out and earn it. That’s all we’re trying to do.”
They are both serial winners, with two Olympic gold medals and World Junior gold as well.
“They’ve done everything,” said teammate Andrew Cogliano. “Won golds, been in situations that (other NHL players) are envious of. Now, it’s their time to really take this team to the next level. At the end of the day they’re the guys who run this team.”
And there’s the problem. The Ducks aren’t just good this year. They’ve been very good every year — for a while now.
“Look at the last two years. Detroit in Game 7, and last year in Game 7 against L.A.,” Perry said, thinking back on two painful playoff exits, both home games at the Honda Center. “You get over that hump, you never know what can happen. But it could work out for the best. Nobody wants to relive it. That’s why everyone is playing the way they are.”
Much of the hockey world loses track of these Ducks between springs, with their 10:00 p.m. Eastern starts. But the facts are, they finished atop the tougher Western Conference for the second straight season this year, and as shown in Game 1 versus Calgary, Getzlaf and Perry embody that heavy game that the good Western teams have trademarked.
“On the ice … I have a pretty good idea what (Perry) is doing with the puck 98 percent of the time, and vice versa,” said Getzlaf. “I think (then-Anaheim GM Bryan Murray) knew what he was doing on draft day (2003) when they moved up to get him after they’d already picked me. One guy likes to pass, and the other really likes to score goals. It should be a good thing.”
“Every pre-game skate,” admits Cogliano, “I purposely go with Getzy on a two-on-one, because I know I’m going to get a pass back-door for an empty net. Simple as that. I give it to him as early as I can, and I just get my stick in a position to get open.”
When the game starts Cogliano falls back to the second line. That means that on a night like Thursday, he has the best seat in the house to watch two All-Stars put on a show. Perry and Getzlaf had four points each in a 6-1 Game 1 massacre.
“When they’re playing like that, you really just can’t stop them,” Cogliano said. “They’re just too big. And Perry… There are chances that it might take me five or 10 chances to score? But give him one chance, and he’s going to score.”
Now, as they approach 30 — the age that opens the window to the inevitable decline in a hockey player — the individual goals don’t mean so much. It’s true: They have done everything. They’ve even won a Stanley Cup before.
But they’ve never won a Stanley Cup with this team. With a ‘C’ on Getzlaf’s chest, and an ‘A’ on Perry’s.
“They realize that it’s their team,” said Boudreau. “Getzy has been the captain for a while, but there were always Teemu and Saku (Koivu) around. Now … they understand: ‘We’ve got to be the guys that show what we can do and the players will follow.’”
Typical of the Canadian hockey leader, the Ducks captain will have none of this “his team” business.
It is all about the team, not whose team it is. That’s the way Mark Messier would have it, and it is no different with Ryan Getzlaf.
“It means absolutely nothing to me whether I’m a leader on the team, or playing a role on the team,” Getzlaf said. “When you’re in the Stanley Cup playoffs we’re going to need you to play. We’re going to need you to accomplish something. We have a great team, and we have a great opportunity here.”
It’s time to win with this team?
“Yup.”
