NHL CONFERENCE FINALS Ducks-Devils sounds downright Disney-like

Both teams are four wins away from the Stanley Cup finals.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Not one but two Mickey Mouse operations are in the NHL semifinals.
The New Jersey Devils once were compared unfavorably to the lovable rodent, but they now have become one of the league's best-run franchises. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, meanwhile, embrace their lineage as a creation of Disney, which owns the club.
Both teams are four wins away from the Stanley Cup finals.
For the Devils, it would be their third trip in four years; they were knocked out in the first round last year by eventual finalist Carolina.
"I think we do have a good team," said defenseman Scott Niedermayer, third on the Devils with eight playoff points. "Last year was a disappointment when we lost in the first round, so there's a little more motivation."
Standing in their way are the Ottawa Senators, in the conference finals for the first time in their 11-year history. The Senators won the Presidents' Trophy with 113 points.
Anaheim, which had won just one playoff series in the franchise's first nine seasons, will take on fellow newcomer Minnesota. The 3-year-old Wild never reached the playoffs before this year, and they reached the West finals by becoming the first NHL team to overcome two 3-1 series deficits in one postseason.
Both series open today; the West in Minnesota, the East in Ottawa.
Different team
Wayne Gretzky labeled the Devils "a Mickey Mouse operation on ice" after his Edmonton Oilers beat them 13-4 in November 1983.
So much has changed in the past two decades. Since 1995, New Jersey has won two Stanley Cups and come within a win of a third.
Out West, the Mighty Ducks -- whose nickname comes from the title of a 1992 Disney movie -- have been the most surprising story of the playoffs.
They started their, well, Disneylike run with a stunning sweep of the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. Then they ousted top-seeded Dallas.
"I think it just speaks to the parity in the league," captain Paul Kariya said. "Your Detroits, Colorados, Dallas, St. Louis -- the teams that have consistently been in the top four, especially in our conference -- I don't see them going away, but I don't see the gap being as large as it was before."
The Wild can attest to that. Not only did they rally from 3-1 deficits in each of the first two rounds, they did it by winning Games 5 and 7 on the road both times. Against Vancouver on Thursday, the Wild shook off a 2-0 deficit in Game 7 to win 4-2.
Hot goaltenders
Now, however, they must solve Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who's 8-2 with a 1.60 goals-against average in the playoffs. He has stopped 354 of 373 shots.
Niedermayer's brother Rob, a Mighty Ducks forward, compares this run to his Florida Panthers' trip to the 1996 finals.
"We both had the hot goaltender," said Rob Niedermayer, traded by Calgary at this year's deadline. "Anaheim hasn't had a playoff run like this in their history, so it is similar. I think we're both big underdogs, kind of surprised a lot of people with how well we're doing."