Detroit Outlasts Struggling Ducks

Their effort was sound. There was nothing wrong with their defensive-oriented game plan. Only their execution could be faulted.

Against another team, on another night, the Mighty Ducks might have produced their second improbable victory in four games without injured forwards Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya and Travis Green.

But the Detroit Red Wings refused to perform a belly-flop against the undermanned Ducks, using superior skill and depth to escape with a 2-0 victory Wednesday at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

The Ducks didn’t give Detroit much to work with, but the Red Wings took full advantage of two opportunities to score. Detroit scored on Brent Gilchrist’s power-play goal in the first period and on Steve Yzerman’s third-period rush down the left wing.

The Ducks, playing their fourth consecutive game without Selanne, Kariya and Green, got nothing.

“At least we competed,” Coach Pierre Page said. “We went after it. We played in-your-face hockey.”

Of the three wounded Ducks, Selanne, sidelined because of strained abdominal muscles, is the closest to making his return. He hopes to practice today and play Friday against the San Jose Sharks.

Kariya’s return by season’s end because of post-concussion syndrome remains in serious doubt. He has missed six games since getting cross-checked in the jaw Feb. 1 by Chicago’s Gary Suter.

Green, out because of a groin injury, is shooting to return for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“I’d like to have at least one full-speed practice with the team,” said Selanne, who leads the NHL with 41 goals. “I need a couple of practices where I have to battle [against teammates]. Shooting doesn’t bother me. When I skate full speed, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s kind of tender.

“Right now, I’d like to get back quickly. I have to patient. When I come back, I want to really come back. I don’t want to get hurt again after only two games.

“It’s getting better all the time. That’s a good sign.”

There were others Wednesday, but simply not enough of them for the Ducks to accomplish the truly unexpected against the heavily-favored Red Wings.

Detroit, which has tormented the Ducks over the years like no other NHL team in leading the all-time series, 12-3-4, certainly looked ordinary.

The Ducks outplayed the Red Wings in many way, but couldn’t generate the required scoring chances without their top three forwards. They won all sorts of small battles--in the corners, along the boards and in front of the net.

They tightened their defense. They also stayed out of the penalty box for the most part. And goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov was superb, particularly when he stopped Sergei Fedorov on a breakaway late in the second period.

“Everyone in the organization told me Mikhail has played very well against Detroit over the years,” Page said of Shtalenkov, who stopped 70 of 73 shots in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals last May.

“Guy [Hebert] has been working very hard with [goalie consultant] Francois Allaire. He went to the Olympics and didn’t play at all.”

Page made at least one other significant change in order to better match up against the Red Wings.

He moved defenseman Ruslan Salei to left wing, hoping to get more speed into the lineup.

“I thought he played pretty well in his first game as a winger,” said Tomas Sandstrom, who was pair with Salei on a two-on-one break that failed to click in the second period.

“He’s a good skater and we had some chances. He gave me a backhander [on the second-period two-on-one] and it was just behind me.”

After the game, the Ducks made another move--returning forward Kevin Todd to the Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League.

“It’s too bad we lost,” Sandstrom said. “I thought we played pretty hard. A bounce here, a bounce there. I think we showed we can compete against those guys.”

Without Kariya, Selanne and Green in the lineup, the Ducks struggled offensively. That’s not to say they didn’t have opportunities. They just couldn’t finish off their scoring chances.

Sandstrom, who last season helped the Red Wings win their first Stanley Cup since 1955, was among the Ducks’ best players. He showed an aggressiveness not seen in quite some time.

Matt Cullen, Sean Pronger, Steve Rucchin and Scott Young also played strong games for the Ducks. But they are merely complementary players, usually asked to support scorers like Kariya, Selanne and Green.

By game’s end, the Ducks had no one to keep pace with the likes of Yzerman and Fedorov.