ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -Ray Emery is a little different goalie than most. Maybe it’s the tattoo that snakes all over his right arm. Or his willingness to eat a cockroach on a bet. Or his off-ice love of boxing.
Whatever it is, the Ottawa Senators need Emery to be a difference-maker in the Stanley Cup finals.
The Anaheim Ducks kept him busy in Game 1, when Emery stopped 29 of 32 shots in Ottawa’s 3-2 loss. It was the 24-year-old goalie’s finals debut and his team’s first finals appearance in 80 years.
The defeat left the Senators trailing for the first time in the playoffs. They haven’t lost back-to-back games since December.
“Things can turn around real quick,” Emery said Tuesday. “We’re down 1-0, but all of a sudden you win Game 2 and you got the split in their building, and that’s a good situation to be in.”
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Anaheim.
Emery and the rest of the Senators used the off day to watch film, and the goalie saw his mistakes.
“I played as hard as I could, but there were some mental things,” he said. “I’m definitely going to correct those.”
The Ducks tied the game in the third period Monday when Ryan Getzlaf sped in off the right wing and backhanded the puck between Emery’s legs.
“That’s the kind of a move that surprises a goalie,” he said. “But at the same time, the guy’s at a bad angle coming down the wing. I stopped it nine out of 10 times. It’s just something that you don’t kind of expect in that situation, and I hope he tries it again.”
That kind of confidence is typical of Emery, according to his 32-year-old backup, Martin Gerber.
“He knows his game. He’s really calm. He really doesn’t need much help,” Gerber said. “He’s really matured in his way of playing and his preparation. He’s been good for us the whole season.”
Gerber can afford to be generous. He’s in the finals for the third time in four years, having been the backup to Cam Ward during the Carolina Hurricanes’ championship run last year. He also was with the Ducks in 2003 when they lost to New Jersey.
“He’s a lucky charm,” Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. “I’d like to be in the Cup as often as he is.”
Emery and Gerber traded starts in October, then Emery was injured for a stretch in November. He returned and won five of seven starts, so Murray stuck with him.
“It’s pretty easy … if a guy wins a game for you to play him the next night and that’s what really happened,” Murray said.
With all the traffic in front of him in Game 1, Emery got battered and bumped around.
“He got slashed three or four times after he had his hand on the pocket, and when you dump the puck in, they hold you out,” Murray said. “In our side, that doesn’t happen very often. But we’ll address that and see if it’s going to continue, then we’ll have to start doing it a little bit more like they do.”
Emery thought the Ducks should have been whistled more.
“You kind of expect it,” he said, “but at the same time, they got to make calls sometimes because it can get out of hand.”
Emery is a boxing fan who got ejected for fighting against Buffalo in February after first stopping 12 of 15 shots. In another hockey life, he envisions himself playing the enforcer’s role.
“I like that part of the game,” he said. “But not hitting. I like fighting. There’s no fighting in the playoffs. I’m content just kicking pucks back there.”
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