Ducks Remain on Course

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 in front of 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, who made 38 saves, ended Detroit’s run by continuing his own. Hebert has allowed only 15 goals over the last nine games, holding the other team to two goals or less in all but one game.

“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 on 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 with a knuckling shot after he came over the blue line with two Red Wings in front of him.

The goal was Kurri’s 594th and there are 14 games to play. Kurri, who turns 37 in May, has 11 goals this season.

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

“We’re on a little bit of a roll, that’s no secret,” Kurri said. “But this is not the time of year you can feel high on yourself. There are so many teams, so close. There’s no time to sit back. You just keep going.”

The Ducks made their night a little more difficult than it had to be, taking some bad penalties and forcing themselves to kill off five power plays--including two short five-on-threes--but they were up to the task.

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.

“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.”

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

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, Selanne’s 43rd, left him two behind NHL leader Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh, who has 45 but is out with an injury. Selanne recorded his 91st point of the season, which puts him 13 behind Mario Lemieux, who had three assists Wednesday.

Selanne nearly put the Ducks ahead, 2-0, 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 when he outskated the Ducks’ Darren Van Impe to a long pass off the stick of Bob Rouse. Van Impe hooked Fedorov down, but Fedorov scored anyway, going to the bench to ice his collarbone area where Van Impe’s stick caught him.

“They’re playing real strong hockey,” Detroit’s Rouse said. “They have that one explosive line, but the rest of the guys are working hard, too.”

Said Bowman: “Sometimes, a team on the bubble gets motivation from that.”