Ducks Right Some Wrongs in Overtime

The shots that rang off the goalposts in the final minutes of the Mighty Ducks’ game against Vancouver Wednesday night were music to the Ducks’ ears, and awful noise to the Canucks.

Roman Oksiuta’s shot clanged away first. With two minutes left in regulation, Alexander Mogilny’s did the same. In overtime, Jyrki Lumme rifled another--this one closer than close--that rang off the post.

Less than 30 seconds later, the Ducks’ Alex Hicks ended the game, 2-1, when he took a pass from Joe Sacco on a three-on-two rush and beat goalie Corey Hirsch easily 1:34 into overtime.

“Joe Sacco made a great play,” said Hicks, whose seventh goal of the season silenced the crowd of 16,825 at GM Place. “One defenseman took Bob Corkum and the other tried to stay in the middle. Joe got it over to me and I had a nearly open net.”

With that, the Ducks beat the Canucks for the first time in their last nine meetings.

The game was the Ducks’ first since the All-Star break and their 48th of the season--a point that marked the end of the lockout-shortened season last year.

This year, the Ducks have 34 games left and a chance to redeem themselves for their poor play of the last two months. With the midway point behind them, the task ahead isn’t easy. They trail Calgary and Edmonton in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

“I think this meant a lot to this hockey club,” Hicks said. “We need a great second half if we want to make the playoffs, and everybody knows that.”

Early indications Wednesday weren’t very promising--especially when it took the Ducks 11 1/2 minutes to manage a shot on goal and they failed to get a single shot on a power play that included 1:23 with a two-man advantage.

Nevertheless, they took a 1-1 tie into the third, largely because of the stellar goaltending of Guy Hebert, who made 33 saves.

Hebert carried them into overtime by thwarting the Canucks again and again. Twice in the final few minutes, Vancouver players thought they had scored. Martin Gelinas raised his stick in premature celebration after Hebert gloved one shot, and Mogilny’s stick went up after he hit the post. In the final minute, Hebert stopped Oksiuta and then, with 46 seconds left, gloved Dana Murzyn’s point shot after Vancouver won a faceoff in the Ducks’ end.

Hebert even foiled a Vancouver power play after losing his stick, stopping play when he reached up and gloved a puck fluttering above the back of the net. But the bigger save came later on the power play, when he stopped Trevor Linden at close range.

“That might have been his best save of the game,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “Guy made some solid saves.”

Hicks agreed.

“He looked like a Vezina Trophy winner tonight,” he said.

Wilson said the Ducks’ goal early in the game was to play conservatively and limit the Canucks’ scoring chances, especially since the Ducks were playing their first game in a week.

“We wanted to be sure we kept things simple,” he said.

But their power play continues to strangle them. Given a man-advantage with about five minutes to play, they not only didn’t manage a shot on goal, they hardly managed any good passes.

The only goal Hebert allowed was Esa Tikkanen’s deflection of a power-play point shot by defenseman Leif Rohlin 3:09 into the second.

Hebert kept the lead at the slimmest of margins until 13:37 of the second, when Duck defenseman Bobby Dollas tied the score, chasing down his own shot and putting it into the net after it was deflected and caromed back off the boards.

That was a lucky bounce for the Ducks, but nothing like the luck they got from the posts Hebert guarded.

“It was music to my ears, I’ll tell you that,” Wilson said.

Duck Notes

The NHL’s plans to send the Ducks and Canucks to Japan to open the 1996-97 season might be off, a league official has told club president Tony Tavares. Tavares said he expects an update and explanation this week. . . . Coach Ron Wilson departed from his philosophy of playing rookie Chad Kilger through thick and thin Wednesday, scratching him for the first time since Nov. 22. Kilger, who hasn’t scored a goal in his last 20 games, was replaced by Patrik Carnback. . . . Forward Glenn Anderson, 35, has signed with the Canucks but must clear waivers before he can play for them because he started the season in Europe. Edmonton is said to be interested, although Anderson has made it clear he wants to play in Vancouver. . . . The Ducks don’t play again until Saturday, when they face the Kings in a noon start at the Forum.