Ducks Score, so Do Red Wings : Hockey: The drought is broken with four goals, but Detroit is equal to the task, 4-4.

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 a turnaround for the Ducks, who have been struggling to score. Kariya and Todd Krygier each had two goals, and Shaun Van Allen set a team record with four assists and Stephan Lebeau added three.

The Red Wings, who lead the Western Conference, got four goals from four different players.

The Ducks have won only two of their last 13 games, and seem hardly in a position to make blockbuster trades.

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, a defenseman with good size who cost the Ducks a draft choice.

Karpa practiced with the Kings last Thursday before being sent home. Does he look forward to showing them he can play when the teams met March 21?

“I’m ready to play against anybody,” he said.

The Kings also were concerned about Karpa’s lower back, telling him it was “a walking time bomb,” he said. Karpa had surgery on his tailbone 3 1/2 years ago.

“My theory is I played with it three years,” he said. “I don’t know if they know what hockey players deal with. When I do play, my back feels better because the muscles get warmed up.”

The Calgary consultants told him it was no problem.