Ducks vs. Kings

ANAHEIM -- The ultimate result of the NHL's first Freeway Series became known well before the final minutes of Game 7 at Honda Center on Friday.

Most of the fans of the Anaheim Ducks who lingered despite the lopsided score in a 6-2 victory for the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of their Western Conference Second Round series were probably there for one reason: The chance to say goodbye to Teemu Selanne.

Selanne announced before the season that 2013-14 would be his last. This was not the end he was hoping for.

"It was very disappointing. I knew it was either going to be an unbelievable party or disappointment," Selanne said. "This time it wasn't the party. It's very disappointing. It's a funny game. We had our chances. We just couldn't take advantage of them. That's the way it goes."

ANAHEIM -- There was no turning point in Game 7 between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings.

The puck was dropped at center ice, and the Kings dominated from the outset. The first two shifts were dominant; each ended with the Ducks icing the puck. Los Angeles kept coming, and it morphed into an awful start for Anaheim. The Kings were up by two goals before the midway point and three by the first intermission.

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- In the summer of 2007, Teemu Selanne didn't even know where he had stashed his hockey gear. In the garage? In Finland?

He knew he was done. He was convinced. Selanne could see the second act of life that F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said did not exist.

"Then I rented ice at Anaheim Ice and skated by myself and said, 'This is so stupid,'" Selanne said.

Selanne made a bet with a goalie friend, Jeff Brown. If he scored on Brown at least five times out of 10 breakaways, he would return.

"When it got to be 8-for-8, he started making excuses," Selanne said.

ANAHEIM -- For the second consecutive round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a series involving two California teams will go the distance.

The first postseason meeting between the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings will conclude with a Game 7 on Friday at Honda Center (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS). The road team won the first four games of the series; the home side has prevailed in the past two.

Each team has scored 13 goals. Four of the games have been decided by one goal, and one of the two that wasn't featured an empty-netter.

The winner will claim bragging rights in Southern California and a chance to play the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Final.

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Perry Pearn to break down the action. Pearn will be checking in throughout the series.

Pearn has spent the past 18 seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and a second tenure with the Jets in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings have played to a draw through six games of their Western Conference Second Round series. Each team has won three games. Each team has scored 13 goals.

LOS ANGELES -- Darryl Sutter isn't a big believer in many of the narratives that seem to be popular at this time of a hockey season.

Does home-ice advantage matter in a Game 7? Nope. In his mind, if there's a Game 7 it is because the teams are too close for it to matter.

Does momentum carry over from one Stanley Cup Playoff game to the next? Nope. He believes in momentum from shift-to-shift, but each game is its own entity.

Is a Game 7 different than other elimination games? Nope. Sutter feels every playoff game is of the elimination variety.

The Los Angeles Kings coach does believe in what he sees from players at this time of the season. He believes that experience matters, and the veterans he has have earned theirs.

Thirteen of the 19 Kings expected to be on the ice Friday in Game 7 against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS) played in every game of Los Angeles' march to the Stanley Cup in 2012. Three others played in at least 12 of the 18 playoff games last season.

It is an experienced group, one that will lean on that experience Friday.

"It's confidence. When you've done special things together, you have the confidence no matter what happens to do that again," center Mike Richards said. "That's a big thing in playoffs. When you're down in a game, down in the series, you've been through comebacks and good things with the guy beside you, it is a good thing to lean on. It's a nice feeling to have that you have confidence in being able to do whatever is needed to win."

ANAHEIM -- Players typically forget about losses within minutes of stepping off the ice, or at least that's what they say publicly. The term "short memory" is tossed out a lot when it comes to turning the page.

That's not true for the Anaheim Ducks.

Since their Game 7 meltdown against the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Quarterfinals last season, Anaheim has literally worn the loss on their chests in the form of "Unfinished Business" T-shirts. Some of them wore the shirts Thursday in preparation for Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round series against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday at Honda Center (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS).

"I think the guys in this room have used Game 7 against Detroit, and the entire series against Detroit, as a teaching point this entire year," Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. "We know we did not play our best against them. We wanted to prove to ourselves and prove to the rest of the League that that was a fluke, and we have another opportunity to do that tomorrow night."

NEW YORK -- The first-ever Stanley Cup Playoff series between Southern California rivals the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings reaches its pinnacle with the excitement of Game 7 Friday at Honda Center in Anaheim (9 p.m., ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). The winner will advance to the Western Conference Final against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

The Ducks-Kings showdown will be the third Second Round series decided in a Game 7, joining both Eastern Conference matchups (New York Rangers defeated Pittsburgh, Montreal defeated Boston). Since 1988, there only have been two other years when three or more second-round series required a Game 7: 2001 and 2009. Friday's contest also will mark the sixth Game 7 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one short of the single-year playoff record of seven (1994, 2011).

LOS ANGELES -- Winning the Stanley Cup is always supposed to be about sacrifice and overcoming adversity and all of those hard-to-quantify things.

The Los Angeles Kings faced about the least amount of adversity of any Stanley Cup champion in NHL history when they cruised to the title in 2012. There were no key injuries. They never trailed in a series, racing to a 3-0 lead four times despite starting each on the road.

Yet from that experience, the Kings have become a team that seems to deal with adversity as well as any in the NHL. Nothing has been easy for Los Angeles in the postseason since winning the Cup.

ANAHEIM -- The answer was simple and succinct.

"I made a bad play."

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez didn't shy away from the mistake he made in Game 5 of this Western Conference Second Round series that led to a second goal by Anaheim Ducks forward Devante Smith-Pelly in 83 seconds, and Martinez conveyed his point in a concise manner.

The Ducks had just gone ahead in a game they would win 4-3. Honda Center was buzzing from Smith-Pelly's first goal, which was originally credited to Mathieu Perreault.

Martinez had the puck and was not being pressured. He tried to move it to Marian Gaborik along the left wall, but Ryan Getzlaf intercepted and released Smith-Pelly in alone on net with a perfect saucer pass.

It was a great play by Getzlaf to anticipate Martinez's move; it was a better pass from the Ducks captain. It was also a costly mistake in a game when a few such issues ended up damaging the Kings, who again controlled the puck for long stretches but failed to convert that into a victory. The Ducks lead the best-of-7 series 3-2, with Game 6 on Wednesday at Staples Center (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN).