Everything Seems to Be Clicking as Ducks Stop Other Hot Team

You can’t say the Mighty Ducks are the NHL’s best, but they are its best at the moment.

No team has gone longer without a loss than the Ducks, who won the battle of the unbeatens Wednesday, ending Detroit’s streak at 11 games with a 2-1 victory before 17,174 at the Pond.

The Ducks’ last loss was Feb. 20 against the Kings, a string of nine games during which they have gone 6-0-3 and moved into a tie for fifth in the Western Conference.

The Red Wings hadn’t lost since Dallas beat them on Feb. 14, going 6-0-5.

But Duck goalie Guy Hebert continued his run, making 38 saves, and has allowed only 14 goals over the past nine games.

“He’s in a zone,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “He’s very comfortable out there. He could be physically tired, but mentally he feels fresh. We’re on a real roll. Everybody has a lot of confidence in Guy. He came up with some huge saves, one from Brendan Shanahan on the power play that was headed for the top of the net. Any time you get goaltending like that, anything’s possible.”

The Ducks’ big goal came from an unexpected source, Jari Kurri.

Kurri is in a race against the dwindling days of his career to become only the eighth player in NHL history to score 600 goals. He moved one closer Wednesday when he broke a 1-1 deadlock at 15:33 of the second.

“Jari made a great play, a great move at the blue line, and just before he shot it, the puck skipped a little bit,” Wilson said. “Thank our bad ice. From ice level, it dropped about 12 inches, a real knuckleball.”

The goal was Kurri’s 594th, leaving him six goals from 600 with 14 games to play. Kurri, who turns 37 in May, has 11 goals this season, and recently joked he’d be glad to reach 600 even on empty-netters.

“I’ll take anything, believe me,” he said.

The goal also gives him 1,369 points, tying him with John Bucyk for 11th on the NHL career scoring list.

The Ducks had to kill off five power plays, including two short five-on-threes, but they were up to the task. Shanahan leads the NHL with 18 power-play goals, but was stymied.

Hebert surpassed his career-high of 1,663 saves in a season early in the first period. He has faced more than 30 shots six times in the last nine games, but he isn’t complaining about the workload.

“To be quite honest, most goalies feel more comfortable facing 30 or 40 shots than 18, 19, or 20,” he said. “You’re more into the game that way, physically and mentally. It lets you get into a rhythm. Nothing’s tougher than facing 25 shots when six or seven of them are quality chances. You don’t get the luxury of warming up.”

Detroit goalie Mike Vernon, going for his 300th NHL victory, was hardly warmed up before he went down in a tangle after his skate was clipped by the skate of Teemu Selanne as Detroit defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and Selanne converged on Vernon as he went out to handle the puck.

Chris Osgood looked ready to come in, but Vernon shook it off and stayed in.

The game was scoreless after the first period, but Detroit gave the Ducks a five-on-three power play to start the second period after high-sticking calls against Bob Rouse and Vladimir Konstantinov, whose stick came up against Selanne.

With 1:25 of a two-man advantage, the Ducks made good on it. Vernon stopped Paul Kariya at one corner of the net, but moments later, Selanne set up at the other corner and simply redirected a pass from Dmitri Mironov past Vernon for a 1-0 lead at 1:10 of the second period.

The goal was Selanne’s 43rd, leaving him two behind NHL leader Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh, who has 45 but is out because of a goal injury. The goal was Selanne’s 91st point of the season, which puts him 13 behind Mario Lemieux, who had three assists Wednesday.

Selanne nearly put the Ducks ahead by two goals on another power play, hitting the crossbar.

But Detroit wasn’t going to be shut out. Sergei Fedorov tied the score, 1-1, at 9:27 of the second period.