Ducks Reaffirm Road Skills in Shutting Out Islanders, 3-0

The Ottawa Senators understood what an expansion team is supposed to do on the road, and they did it.

They lost night after night, winning one game away from home all last season.

The Mighty Ducks, however, keep defying tradition. This time they ended the New York Islanders’ six-game winning streak as Duck goaltender Ron Tugnutt handed the Islanders their first shutout of the season, 3-0, before a sellout crowd of 16,297 Tuesday at Nassau Coliseum.

It was the Ducks’ eighth victory in their last 12 games away from Anaheim Arena, and gives them a 9-10 road record.

“I wasn’t sure how we would do . . . . but that’s pretty phenomenal,” said Coach Ron Wilson, whose team began its road success by beating the New York Rangers at nearby Madison Square Garden on Oct 19 in the team’s first away game.

The best road record by a first-year NHL team is the 14-19-4 mark by the 1967-68 Philadelphia Flyers, but both the Ducks and Florida Panthers seem ready to challenge it, with the season not yet at its halfway mark. The Panthers are 8-6-3 on the road.

“Not many teams play around .500 on the road,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “I’ve played on some teams that just couldn’t win on the road--great hockey teams that couldn’t win on the road. It’s only a matter of time before we play well at home (where the team is 5-12-2.)”

Tugnutt made 38 saves to become the second Duck goalie to earn a shutout, following Guy Hebert, who blanked Toronto, 1-0, on Dec. 15.

“He played very well,” Wilson said, adding praise for the defense in front of him that blocked shots and helped sweep away rebounds. “When you get solid goaltending on the road and can manage to frustrate the other team, you turn the home crowd boo-birds out and the other team starts pressing. We sit back and try to take advantage of our scoring opportunities. Tonight we did.”

The boo-birds came home to roost, and the Ducks got goals from Jarrod Skalde, defenseman Sean Hill and Dollas despite being outshot, 38-24.

“Boy, I think it’s a lack of respect for the competition, the way our team played tonight,” Islander Coach Al Arbour said. “They played the perfect road game, but they didn’t have much opposition. . . . . They worked and paid the price tonight and we didn’t. Most of our players took the night off.

“We didn’t win many battles anywhere.”

Tugnutt momentarily appeared to have lost the shutout late in the third when the goal-judge’s light went on. But video review judge Dave Shea ruled that Keith Acton had kicked the puck into the net, and the shutout was intact.

“I just knew there was no way it would be a goal, it was so obvious,” Tugnutt said. “There was no way they could count it as a goal.”

The Ducks had just killed a five-minute penalty in the third period after Joe Sacco received a high-sticking major and a game misconduct at 9:21 of the period when the Islanders’ Steve Thomas was cut on the chin. But the Islanders managed only six shots, and that was pretty much the game.”

“Actually, what I was honestly thinking is, ‘That’s fine,”’ Tugnutt said. “I could give them one goal, but as long as they do’t get two goals on this five-minute power play, we’re fine. At the time, during that power play, if you’d said, ‘OK, we’ll give you the one goal and we’ll take the win, I’d have taken it right there. It’s most important to get the win.”’

His teammates helped him get his second career shutout, adding it to a 1991 victory over Vancouver when he was with Quebec.

“Nobody says anything about it, you can’t talk about it. It’s bad luck,” Dollas said. “So everybody has it in the back of their minds. We clamped the door down and killed that five minute penalty. You do things like that, you’ll win hockey games. It shows a lot of character. We could have said, ‘Aw, here it goes.’

“I was sort of worried, if they get one, the gates might open up. We did a good job.”

The next job after the rest of this six-game trip is playing well at home. “When we play at home, we’re still learning,” Wilson said. “Most home teams try to impress their crowd, and they try too hard and they open things up and take some risky chances.

“If we can just bring this road game home and be a little more patient in front of our home fans, then, you know, we have an outside shot of making the playoffs if we can continue playing this way on the road.”

Duck Notes

Leading scorer Terry Yake moved from right wing to center, playing on a line with wingers Troy Loney and Steven King. Peter Douris replaced him on his former line with center Jarrod Skalde and left wing Tim Sweeney. . . . . Islander defenseman Vladimir Malakhov left the game with a strained lower back.