Coyotes Collar the Ducks

It took almost 52 minutes of frenetic hockey before a puck crossed the goal line.

And it took 47 more seconds more before a goal counted, turning the Mighty Ducks’ jubilation into dejection after their apparent goal was disallowed and turned a near-victory into an excruciating 2-0 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday in Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Phoenix’s victory tied the best-of-seven series at two games each; the teams return to Anaheim for Game 5 on Thursday.

The Mighty Ducks’ exultant celebration, after thinking they had broken a scoreless tie deep in the third period at America West Arena, turned to anger and disbelief when the goal was disallowed after a video review, because officials ruled Brian Bellows’ skate was in the crease when Steve Rucchin shoveled in a rebound with 8:02 left in the game.

Less than a minute later, the outrage became utter dejection when former Duck Bob Corkum scored for Phoenix, giving the Coyotes a 1-0 lead when he backhanded a loose puck past Guy Hebert with 7:15 left in the game.

Bryan Lewis, supervisor of officials for the NHL, said: “We asked our linesmen to play a more-heightened awareness factor. . . . [Brian Bellows] is in the crease. His right foot is in. We had it stopped frame. The debate will be how the message was delivered. It worked in the manner that we intended. Gord Broseker delivered the first message and the referee [Stephen Walkom] went to [Dan] McCourt to talk to him. . . . It just takes one linesman to cast doubt.”

The Ducks had contended Coyote forward Keith Tkachuk had called the infraction to the linesman’s attention, saying it was not up to players to make the calls. However, Lewis said Broseker had noticed it.

“The matter is, I have a hard time believing they [the ofifcials] weren’t convinced they wanted to review it,” Rucchin said. “Why did it take three minutes and have all three officials in their positions ready to drop the puck? It wasnt until Tkachuk skated over and asked them to review it.”

Teppo Numminen’s empty-net goal with six seconds left after the Ducks had pulled the goalie for an extra attacker provided the final margin.

The game turned on the disallowed goal--the sixth of the series, and though there’s no statistic kept for that, it’s an inordinate number of washed-out goals.

The goal was disallowed because of the controversial enforcement of the in-the-crease rule, loosely enforced before this season but enforced to the letter of the law this season, resulting in routinely disallowed goals because of players’ incidental presence over the line in the crease.

The howling Coyote fans at America West Arena went into paroxysms when Corkum scored, but they had been silenced a few minutes earlier after the Ducks’ Dmitri Mironov carried the puck behind the net and tried a wraparound.

But after a long review, the crowd erupted at the words of the public-address announcer: “No goal.”

Bellows’ skate appeared to be in the crease on the right corner of the net, but some replays weren’t conclusive.

“Both teams want to win as much as the other,” Wilson said before the game. “That’s the thing that stinks about sports. . . . I wish it wasn’t so.”

Down two games to one in the series, the Coyotes needed to win to avoid going into Anaheim for Game 6 facing elimination. With the series returning to Anaheim, the visiting team has yet to win.

It took more than 2 1/2 periods before a goal was scored, but it wasn’t for lack of opportunities.

One of the Ducks’ best amounted to nothing when Teemu Selanne got out on a short-handed breakaway in the second, only to tumble to the ice with Numminen and Craig Janney hooking him in a tangled threesome. There was no call by referee Walkom, which was the way night went at times. Despite a game at least as physical as the previous three, there were plenty of penalties that went uncalled.

Hebert faced plenty of pressure--with a lot of fast and frantic action in front of the net--but he made two particularly big saves late in the second--one a stab of Diduck’s shot for a big glove save, the other when he slid outstretched on the ice to stop Jeremy Roenick’s short-handed blast from the wing in the final minute.

The Coyotes’ Nikolai Khabibulin had to be good, too, especially on a second-period power play that came after Diduck’s interference penalty thwarted a Phoenix scoring opportunity.

Paul Kariya found Bellows open cutting down the slot and got the puck to him. Bellows missed the net, but Rucchin got the rebound at the other corner, and Khabibulin’s quick dive across the net was just in time to stop him.

Wilson followed through on his plan to separate Kariya and Selanne for long stretches of the game--but at the game’s most crucial stretches, midway through the second and for much of the third, Kariya, Selanne and Rucchin were together again.

The idea behind separating them was to get more offensive chances by giving Phoenix more than one line to worry about defending--and to unsettle Phoenix Coach Don Hay’s attempts to match lines as well.

It might have been unsettling, but it created no bonanza of scoring opportunities, and some of the new combinations tended to look a little discombobulated because they’re not as used to playing together.

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Wilson sent Kariya, Rucchin and Selanne out for the opening faceoff, then split them and shuffled and reshuffled his lines much of the game.

By the third, he was trying desperately to get a goal. They got one: It just didn’t count.

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Mighty Ducks vs. Phoenix

* Game 1: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 2: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 3: Phoenix, 4-1

* Game 4: Phoenix, 2-0

* Thursday: Pond, 7:30 p.m.

* Sunday: at Phoenix, noon*

* April 29: Pond, 7:30 p.m.*

* if necessary