Ducks Won’t Throw In Towel : Hockey: Kariya hits the post and settles for two goals. Anaheim settles for a 4-4 tie with Detroit.

The troubled Mighty Ducks were big trouble for the Detroit Red Wings, taking them to overtime before settling for a 4-4 tie in front of 17,174 Thursday night at The Pond of Anaheim.

Rookie Paul Kariya nearly won it with a hat trick when his shot hit the right post in overtime off a drop pass from Patrik Carnback, but that was the closest call of the five-minute extra period.

The game was intense, and it ended with Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman throwing a towel at Duck Coach Ron Wilson and Wilson trying to throw it back.

“They were frustrated at the end,” said Wilson, who wouldn’t discuss the incident except to say Bowman shouted an obscenity. “It was a long night for them. We played physically and didn’t allow their offense to really get going.”

Bowman said Wilson was yelling at Detroit’s Dino Ciccarelli and, “we didn’t think that was right.”

The Ducks’ performance against the Western Conference leaders was a turnaround. They recently were struggling to score even one goal, and their special teams have been wretched. But they scored two power-play goals and didn’t allow any against Detroit.

Kariya and Todd Krygier each scored two goals, Shaun Van Allen set a team record with four assists and Stephan Lebeau added three. Steve Yzerman scored his seventh goal of the season for Detroit, and three other Red Wings scored.

The Ducks had won only two of their last 12 before Thursday, but they are hardly in a position to make blockbuster trades, not with a roster stocked with expansion players other teams don’t want and young players the Ducks won’t give up.

But General Manager Jack Ferreira keeps making intriguing little moves--none more so than the deal for defenseman David Karpa, the player the Ducks traded for Wednesday less than a week after the Kings rejected him for as unfit to play after failing a physical.

Karpa, whose right wrist is the subject of dueling medical reports between the Kings and Ducks, arrived in Anaheim on Thursday and said, “I’m ready to play.”

“I hold nothing against the Kings,” said Karpa, who broke the bone on top of his wrist near his thumb last season and again in a training camp fight in September while with Quebec. “They were looking out for their organization. They just got Philippe Boucher and he was hurt while he was in Buffalo and now he’s out for the season.”

The Kings’ medical team said Karpa’s improperly healed right wrist requires surgery and would prevent him from playing this season, and the NHL voided the trade in which they sent a pick to Quebec. The Ducks got an independent report and had their own medical team examine the test results. They think he requires surgery too, but can wait until after the season. If not, the future-oriented Ducks can live with it.

“I think I can play right now,” said Karpa, 23.