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It's "cheers" for Niedermayers in Game 1 |
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Written by Mark Whicker, MCT
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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They don't wear the capital letter of their first names on the jersey, so it's just Niedermayer and Niedermayer.
Scott and Rob to you.
Norm and Cliffie in the clubhouse.
That started long ago in Cranbrook, British Columbia, where the Stanley Cup shows up every few years. Maybe it's a sign of their advancing age, since "Cheers" hasn't been in prime time for several years now. But Scott is Norm and Rob is Cliffie.
"They used to call us that back home," Scott said. "I didn't hear it much in New Jersey. But people have picked up on it since we've been together here. Probably because that's what we call each other."
Of course, Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin were brothers only in the barstool sense.
And, of course, it would be hard for anybody, even a FEMA official, to confuse Scott Niedermayer with George Wendt.
"Yeah," Scott said. "I think that was the joke, actually."
It's still not difficult to distinguish Scott-the-floating-defenseman from Rob-the-bruising-cornerman.
But in these playoffs, when the Ducks mob each other after goals you don't always know which Niedermayer they're celebrating.
Rob had five goals in the regular season and has four in this postseason.
As Game 1 of these Stanley Cup Finals chugged toward overtime Monday night, Rob stood in front of the train, went behind the net, beat Andrej Meszaros to the puck, winged it out to Travis Moen and watched Moen slam it into a low corner, with 2:51 left, to beat Ottawa, 3-2.
Scott had the first assist on the goal, so he has 10 playoff points and Rob has eight.
More important, that's 30 points in 17 playoff games for what is labeled the Ducks' checking line.
And Moen has five goals, one fewer than team leaders Ryan Getzlaf and Andy McDonald, both of whom scored Monday.
And that Moen-Cliffie-Samuel Pahlsson unit beat Ottawa's previously unstoppable line of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, 1-0.
It's only the second time in these playoffs that this particular caucus of Senators has been blanked. They lost that game, too.
"The main thing we concentrate on is avoiding the turnovers," R. Niedermayer said. "If we don't do that, that line Ottawa has is just too dangerous. They can get the 3-on-2's and that's when they get chances."
A few minutes before R. Niedermayer fed the fluttering puck to Moen, he also sneaked behind Alfredsson, picked the puck, and Moen nearly put the Ducks ahead right there.
Getting the puck past Ray Emery wasn't the hard part. Getting it on him was, especially when Anton Volchenkov, who must be the winner of the World's Strongest Shins competition, was blocking 10 shots, many of them within land-mine range.
Volchenkov would grunt, flex his leg a bit, go to the bench, come back out.
The Senators came out hitting and skating, but McDonald's tying goal welcomed the crowd back in.
A huge shift by the fourth line of Brad May, Shawn Thornton and Todd Marchant helped change the winds. "I might have scored there," May said, "if I had Teemu Selanne's hands."
And a three-on-five penalty kill (for 1:35) also got the Ducks moving. "I thought that was the biggest momentum shift," Sean O'Donnell said.
By the end the Ducks had established a base camp below the blue line, and that's what they do when they win.
This was Anaheim's first 30-shot game (it had 32) since Chris Kunitz went out. The Senators had allowed fewer than 20 shots in four playoff games. With their neutral zone work and their waves of defensemen, you can see why.
Still, the Ducks can blame Ottawa's two goals on more penalties and more happenstance.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere didn't have his stick when Wade Redden fired home the second goal, and the first one trickled in when O'Donnell whiffed on a clearing attempt.
Now we await an opposing coach that will see fit to put his checking line out against Cliffie & Co.
"It's a non-glorified position, what Bobby does," Todd Marchant, referring to R.
Niedermayer. "I know it better than anybody. I did it for 10 years. But sometimes you can take advantage of the scoring line you're working against. No matter who it is, they'll give you chances if you look for them.
"Our coaching staff knows Rob Niedermayer will be there for this club in every situation."
Like most of the Ducks, Rob had already put the victory in the outbox.
"We gotta forget about it," he said. "The biggest thing was getting the forecheck going. Their defense moves the puck extremely well and they skate well, and without the smart dumps you don't get a forecheck going, and we got a bit better at it.
"Our line? We just have to keep it simple. I don't think we're going to surprise you."
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