ANAHEIM -- It wasn’t just who provided the heroics for the Anaheim Ducks but how that told the real story of a team finally burying at least some of its playoff demons and maybe setting itself on a championship track.

When Corey Perry found himself lying on the ice just inside the Ducks' blue line, clutching his knee after colliding with the Calgary Flames' Matt Stajan late in the second period of Game 5 on Sunday night, and had to drag himself to the bench and then hobbled off to the locker room, it seemed as though his return might be measured in days or weeks.

But Perry returned to the ice briefly before the period ended and then took a regular shift in the third and overtime before somehow sweeping home the winning goal 2 minutes, 26 seconds into overtime basically from his knees in a crowded crease to propel the Ducks to the Western Conference finals.

“Him coming back was awesome and getting that kind of game-winner is textbook Perry,” said Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen, who faced only 19 shots as the Ducks ousted a pesky but ultimately overmatched Calgary team in five games.

In the past, however, these were the kinds of games the Ducks found ways to lose.

On Sunday, they dominated the Flames over the final two periods and into overtime, outshooting them 35-10 over that period, including 7-0 in overtime.

But instead of allowing a fluky goal that would have sent the series back to Calgary, the Ducks applied the killer instinct that has been either absent or was merely being nurtured in their dressing room the past few years.

Two years ago, for instance, the Ducks were up 3-1 on the Detroit Red Wings in the first round and fell in seven games.

After being tested by the Dallas Stars in the first round last spring, they were up 3-2 on the Los Angeles Kings in the second round but ultimately were waxed at home in Game 7.

This spring they have jumped out to an 8-1 record as they head into their first Western Conference finals since 2007, when they won the franchise’s only Stanley Cup. Sunday’s win marked the sixth time in nine games this spring they have come from behind to win a playoff game.

Perry did look as though he was skating somewhat gingerly after he returned but downplayed its impact on him or the team.

“It didn’t feel great when it happened,” Perry said. "I wasn’t sure what was going on. It calmed down after a few minutes. You do anything to come back and help the team win at any part of the season, especially in the playoffs."

It has been a long time since Perry and captain Ryan Getzlaf have been this far down the playoff road. They were both young men when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007. So, Perry understands why this moment is significant to the franchise.

“I think after the last couple of seasons, it’s been tough exiting the playoffs the way we did," Perry said. "I think this year we came in with that mindset with business first and a business attitude.

“You’re going out there and doing everything you can to help this team and there’s a lot of character in that room. There’s a lot of guys that can step up at any point in a game and guys have been doing that. When you have four lines going like we do, it’s a great feeling."

Among those players in the melee that accompanied the winning goal was linemate Patrick Maroon. He fairly leapt into the air as the puck crossed the line to end the series.

“Those are the goals that you’re going to score in overtime,” Maroon said. “I think he’s a warrior. Him and Getzy are warriors. He came back out and he played an awesome game tonight. He had a lot of shots on net ... he finally got rewarded going to the net. That’s what it’s all about."

One of the big differences between this Ducks team and previous versions that couldn’t close the deal in the playoffs -- aside from the maturity of the players who were there for those disappointments -- is the presence of center Ryan Kesler.

He was once again a force, scoring in Game 5 the team’s first goal on a power play and he was also standing at the side of the goal when linemate Matt Beleskey tipped home the goal that tied the game at 2-2 in the first minute of the third period. Kesler was a physical force and won 18 of 22 draws on the night.

One has to imagine he will face off against the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane and his line in the conference finals.

Kesler understands that part of his being in Anaheim was to provide the kinds of performances he delivered in the series-clincher Sunday, to tip those playoff scales that are so often so difficult to tip.

“Obviously I haven’t been here [the last couple of years], but talking with the guys they wanted to get over that hump,” Kesler said.

“It’s just another step. We didn’t come here to just to come to the Western Conference finals. We got a job to do and we’re going to savor this and move on."

If the win was vital for a Ducks team that appears to have redefined its own playoff identity, it was equally vital to head coach Bruce Boudreau, who will be advancing to his first conference finals as a head coach after being unable to scale that mountain first with the Washington Capitals and then in Anaheim the past two playoff years.

“Relieved,” Boudreau said after. “It was pretty cool. I was telling the guys I thought I was pretty calm in the third period and overtime, and then [Francois] Beauchemin missed a chance. It just went wide and I jumped a solid four inches. Maybe I’m not so calm."

Boudreau praised his team’s commitment to staying with the plan even as they dominated the latter part of the game but could not put the Flames away.

Still, as head coach Bob Hartley noted in his postgame address, the Flames simply had no response for the Ducks from the second period on.

“It’s sad that our season is over,” Hartley said. "The boys battled hard. There are lots of long faces in this locker room. They wanted to keep going. I’m very proud of our group.

“Tonight, it’s a tough one but it's going to be a good lesson. Looking at the season, looking at the playoffs, especially tonight’s game, the Ducks stepped it up. In the third period and OT, we had no answers for them."

For the Flames, the loss brings to a close a magical season that defied even the most optimistic of expectations. In the preseason, most believed the Flames would be a draft lottery team and then when they lost captain Mark Giordano to a torn biceps late in the regular season, most figured they would fade from the playoff picture. But they didn’t.

They beat the Vancouver Canucks in six games, even though the Canucks were the higher seed, and they presented a stern test for a Ducks team that in the end simply had too much going on and too much invested in moving forward to allow the Flames to force a return trip to Calgary.

“It’s a pretty empty feeling,” said Calgary netminder Karri Ramo, who was a rock right to the bitter end Sunday night, stopping 44 of 47 shots. "It’s a tough team we played against. I think we can be proud. The first game, we got run over and we played pretty well and kept playing and getting better and better all the time. It’s a pretty bad feeling right now, the way we were playing and battling."

“Obviously, they’re a good team. They’ve got a lot of good years in front of them,” Kesler said. But heading back to Canada for a game Tuesday “wasn’t an option going back up there. We knew what we had to do. We score one right away, which was huge.”

The coming series against the Blackhawks will represent an entirely different dynamic for the Ducks.

The Blackhawks are deep, experienced and they have a winner’s DNA with two Stanley Cup wins and a trip to the Western Conference finals to their credit since 2010.

The Ducks are about to find out whether they have a similar DNA coursing through their veins, the kind of DNA that was on full display in the final moments of this series with a hobbled Perry somehow finding a way to push this team forward.