Ducks Tie One on the Bruins : NHL: They score early and then use tough defense and strong goaltending to tie, 1-1.

The only official Mighty Duck tie in NHL history before Friday night was the kind worn around the necks of team personnel.

The Ducks took care of that, fending off the Boston Bruins with a gritty performance for their first tie, 1-1, in front of 16,850 at Anaheim Arena.

The Bruins avoided the fate of the Edmonton Oilers, who lost to the Ducks Wednesday. But just barely. It took two saves by Bruin goaltender John Blue in the final 15 seconds of overtime to preserve the tie.

The Ducks extended a game to overtime for the second time in three games. They didn’t get their second victory, but it was a point in the standings, and for an expansion team eager to avoid the 24-point performances of Ottawa and San Jose last season, that means something.

“We earned this point,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “Every game’s a battle for us, but it’s also a lot of fun. We took it to a good team and had a lot of opportunities. We have to be pleased with the way (goaltender Ron) Tugnutt came up big for us and the way our penalty killers came through.”

Tugnutt made 37 saves--including one on a penalty shot by Cam Neely in the second period.

The Ducks managed two shots in overtime and the Bruins one, but the Bruins outshot the Ducks, 38-17, overall. Still the Ducks held them off with persistent defense, fending off two Bruin power plays in the third period.

The Ducks managed only one third period shot themselves. Speedy right wing Joe Sacco split two Bruin defenders and took a pass out in front. It was just him and Blue, but his rang a shot off the right post.

“You’d obviously like to get the win, but one point against the Bruins is an important point. We’ll take it,” said Sacco, who scored the Ducks’ goal. It was old-home night for him, a New England native who went to Boston University.

It was a game that saw another first added to the expansion team’s archives--the first penalty shot by an opponent.

However, Tugnutt saw that the first time an opponent scores on a penalty shot will have to be another night, stopping Neely at 10:58 of the second with the score tied, 1-1.

The Bruins were awarded the shot after the Ducks’ Todd Ewen fell on the puck in the crease as a crowd of Boston players were trying to shove it in the net.

Neely, who has appeared in only 24 of the Bruins’ last 168 regular-season games because of knee and thigh problems, skated in and got off a fairly weak forehand shot that Tugnutt stopped with his chest.

“I think he’d say he was disappointed with the shot,” Tugnutt said. “The ice was very rough. I don’t think it really went where he wanted it to go.”

After a scoreless first period in which the Bruins and Ducks each had nine shots, Sacco gave the Ducks the lead when he jumped on a loose puck in the right circle and drove it home 46 seconds into the second.

The puck was loose after Bruin defenseman Jim Wiemer blocked a shot by Anatoli Semenov, but left the puck behind as he fended off Semenov.

“It was just laying there. All I wanted to do was get a backhand on it and get it to the net,” Sacco said.

The Bruins tied the score at 8:42 of the second on a goal credited to Joe Juneau after Neely curled in toward the crease from the right wing. Neely couldn’t get off much of a shot, but was able to send the puck in front of the net, where defenseman Sean Hill was trying to hold off Juneau. An instant later, the puck was in the net, and Juneau was given the goal despite the objection of Duck coach Ron Wilson.

“Juneau didn’t score that, did he?” Tugnutt said. “Neely threw it in front. I think it went in off my defenseman’s skate. It was in the net before I even got a chance to move.”

There was a bit of an old-home feel to the game, which included the oddity of a native Southern Californian starting in goal for the Bruins.

Blue, 27, normally the Bruins’ backup, was born in Huntington Beach and lives in El Toro during the offseason. He was attending high school in San Jose when he left California to chase his NHL dream by playing for a junior hockey team in Iowa. He was appearing in his 25th NHL game Friday.

Duck Notes

KLAC did not broadcast the overtime period, switching to the Lakers’ pregame show from Honolulu after the third period ended . . . The crowd, probably realizing its power after doing the Iceman with its opening-night boos, began to show its disapproval of some of the other entertainment effects, booing scoreboard videos of Kathie Lee Gifford and Regis Philbin declaring their support for the Ducks as well as one starring the comedian Sinbad. The ubiquitous Duck calls, however, are an unqualified hit, and the flying Duck mascot is also popular. The reaction to the Decoys, a team of skating dancers, and to cheerleaders in the stands is mostly indifferent.