Penalty Costly for the Ducks

The Mighty Ducks made their first visit to Canada, and threatened to take an exhibition victory through customs on their way home.

But their third-period, one-goal lead was erased by the Vancouver Canucks, who scored a power-play goal to earn a overtime tie, 2-2, in front of 13,570 Friday at Pacific Coliseum.

The Ducks, playing their first road exhibition game, had 2-1 lead with about eight minutes remaining in the third period, but Anatoli Semenov’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Coach Ron Wilson’s bench minor, both for arguing with referee Dave Jackson, gave Vancouver a two-man advantage. With 11 seconds left on the power play, Greg Adams scored on a rebound at 13:51 of the third.

“I don’t know what he (Semenov) said, he doesn’t speak much English,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “That linesman must speak Russian.”

“He probably said the ‘F’ word,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “I said the ‘F’ word. If we use the ‘F’ word, we get dinged.”

Both teams had several good scoring in the final minute of the penalty-plagued game (37 penalties for 132 minutes).

“I’m happy but sorry at the same time,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to say we outplayed them, but we did what we have to to put ourselves in the game.

“I was really proud of how hard our team worked. We put ourselves in good position. We’re not going to score many goals, but we frustrated the Canucks and slowed the game down.”

Defenseman Bill Houlder gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 15:18 of the second with an unassisted goal. After intercepting a pass in Vancouver’s zone, Houlder quickly fired it in from the slot.

The Ducks gave up an unassisted goal in the first period when Cliff Ronning picked off Randy Ladouceur’s pass from behind his net. The goal, coming at 7:43, gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead.

Duck left wing Tim Sweeney tied the score at 1:52 of the second after right wing Robin Bawa, who gathered a rebound in on the left side of the net, found him open in front.

Duck goaltender Guy Hebert made 31 saves.

With Pavel Bure playing, the Ducks faced a team with their star in the lineup for the first time. Most of the Vancouver regulars played except right wing Trevor Linden and left wing Gino Odjick.

They emerged with their first tie, giving them a 1-2-1 exhibition record against NHL teams, including an overtime loss to the Kings.

Duck Notes

Right wing Todd Ewen earned his second game misconduct this exhibition season in an altercation with Sergio Momesso in the first period. Momesso also received a game misconduct. . . . The Ducks play San Jose in an exhibition game Sunday at Anaheim Arena.