Anaheim Ducks: Top 5 Goals in the Stanley Cup Finals

5. The Anaheim Ducks First Stanley Cup Final Goal

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been watching highlights from the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, and while there is one goal on the list that will be remembered for all time, most people don’t remember who scored the first-ever goal in the Stanley Cup Final for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

If you looked down the roster, one would go with the captain, Paul Kariya, or maybe someone like Steve Rucchin. But no, the correct answer is none other than Marc Chouinard. Marc Chouinard played for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for three years, and in Game 3 of the SCF, against the New Jersey Devils, his name was put in the Anaheim Ducks history books, scoring the first goal in the SCF for the Mighty Ducks.

Redirecting a deflected shot by Sandis Ozolinsh, one of the veteran defenseman on the ’03 Cup Final team, this is the goal that finally got the Mighty Ducks on the board. In a vial game, the Mighty Ducks had to win this game to stay alive in the series.

It was also a momentum boost, as the Ducks were shut out in New Jersey in the first two games. Though it would be the only goal, and point, in the series that he would score, Chouinard, should be given the credit due for being the one that broke the Devils’ curse on the team, which is why his goals earns him the number five spot on this list.