Ducks Can’t Escape the Blackhawks

Four days after Guy Hebert earned the first shutout in Mighty Duck history, Ron Tugnutt was bidding for the second.

The Ducks were playing the next-to-last game of a difficult trip with a tattered defense. But in the midst of the din of a crowd of 18,472 in storied Chicago Stadium, they entered the third period Sunday locked in a scoreless tie, just as they had in blanking Toronto on Wednesday.

But it was shut out or be shut out, and the Chicago Blackhawks prevailed, 2-0, after Joe Murphy deftly reached out and poked the puck into the net after being sandwiched between Duck defenseman Randy Ladouceur and Tugnutt at 4:02 of the third.

Dirk Graham’s empty-net goal with 17 seconds left provided the final margin, after the Ducks’ only power-play opportunity of the game expired.

“I wanted it today,” Tugnutt said, after watching Hebert shut out Toronto, 1-0. “You know going against a good team in their building like this--it’s a tough thing to do. We played a very gutsy game and we should be proud. Coming into the toughest building in the league, playing with discipline the way we did, we should be proud of ourselves. We just came up a little short. It could have very easily gone the other way.”

Chicago goalie Ed Belfour made 22 saves in recording his second shutout of the season. He is the third goalie to shut out the Ducks, joining New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur and San Jose’s Arturs Irbe.

It was the Ducks’ first game at Chicago Stadium, and their next will be their last. The circa-1929 building is closing after this season in favor of the new United Center across the street.

Sunday’s game marked left wing Stu Grimson’s first return to Chicago Stadium, and the former Blackhawk enforcer was greeted with “Stu’s Crew” signs in an upper-deck corner and enthusiastic cheers of “Stu-u-u!” when he took the ice for the opening faceoff.

The Blackhawk fans were welcoming, but those weren’t cries of “Stu” after the second period ended with no score. Those were boos.

“I liked our chances,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “I thought the first two periods we played very well. We were doing exactly what we wanted.”

But four minutes into the period, Chicago defenseman Steve Smith got off a quick point shot after a faceoff, and Murphy came hard to the net. Tugnutt came out to try to reach the puck before he did, and Ladouceur crushed Murphy between them as the puck deflected off Tugnutt’s body and then off Murphy’s. Tugnutt swatted it again before losing sight of the puck and falling into the crease to try to block the bottom of the net.

Murphy managed to reach around him and poke the puck into the net behind Tugnutt.

“He made a good play,” Ladouceur said. “I thought I had him tied up.”

“That was a tough break,” Tugnutt said. “I felt Joe Murphy was going to deflect the puck right in front of me and I didn’t want that to happen. I kind of went out after him and beat him to the puck. I deflected it off and it hit him in the chest. He kind of swatted it at the net, I swatted it back at him, and from there I didn’t know where it went. I laid down. Unfortunately, he got the stick on the puck before our guy did.

“I had no idea where the puck was. I just hoped one of our guys would get to the puck first and shoot it over the glass or shoot it out of harm’s way.”

There was a question about whether the puck had crossed the blue line before Smith’s point shot, but if it did, the linesmen missed it.

“We couldn’t tell,” Wilson said. “I thought it was, but it was close.”

Chicago set about protecting the narrowest of leads.

“At that point, Chicago’s one of the best, if not the best, defensive team in the NHL,” Wilson said. “They did a good job of denying us access to rebounds. We had trouble getting anything going.”

Duck Notes

Defenseman Sean Hill said he expects to be out “a couple of weeks” after injuring his left rib cage Friday at Dallas. It has yet to be determined if his ribs are merely bruised or if one was cracked. Mark Ferner replaced Hill in the lineup Sunday. . . . Three players have returned to Orange County to be examined today by team physician Ronald Glousman. Left wing Garry Valk, still experiencing aftereffects from a concussion suffered Dec. 5, and defenseman Myles O’Connor, whose recovery from a groin injury has been slow, left the team from Chicago. Right wing Jim Thomson returned to Anaheim earlier to have a nagging shoulder injury examined.