Lightning Strikes Twice for Grimson

Meet the Mighty Ducks’ newest goal-scoring sensation. Travis Green? Marty McInnis? Ruslan Salei? No way. Not Wednesday.

He’s big, he’s brawny, he’s definitely not the guy you might have guessed. Believe it or not, ham-handed left wing Stu Grimson scored two goals in the Ducks’ 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Arrowhead Pond.

Too bad an announced crowd of only 13,963, a franchise low, witnessed Grimson’s 10th and 11th goals in his 511th NHL game.

At 6 feet 5 and 239 pounds, Grimson is better suited to pounding opponents into submission. Wednesday, he used a bit of finesse in front of the net and helped the Ducks extend their unbeaten streak to four (3-0-1).

The Ducks also ended the Lightning’s three-game winning streak.

None of it would have been possible without Grimson.

So what if his goals were as ugly as the faces of some of his foes after a lopsided fight? So what if his last goal was March 23 against the Florida Panthers as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes? So what if he had only one other goal in 114 games in two stints with the Ducks?

What mattered to the Ducks was that Grimson put up a roadblock in front of Tampa Bay goaltender Daren Puppa, and wouldn’t budge.

First, Grimson accidentally redirected center Antti Aalto’s shot from the slot with his right skate to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead at 11:53 of the second period.

The play was reviewed by video replay official Michel Voyer, and originally credited to Aalto. Upon further review between periods, it was credited to Grimson.

Next, after Tampa Bay defenseman Cory Cross scored at 14:36, Grimson converted on a rebound for a 4-2 Duck lead at 15:24.

In the end, Grimson’s offensive outburst overshadowed the paltry crowd, 42 saves for goalie Guy Hebert, Green’s scoring slump, McInnis’ first game as a Duck and Salei’s 1998-99 debut.

The previous low at the Pond was 15,386 for an Oct. 10, 1993 game against the New York Islanders. Wednesday also was only the fifth crowd of less than 16,000 in the franchise’s six-season history.

Green has yet to score a goal after seven games. But new linemate McInnis had an assist in his first game since being traded Tuesday from Calgary to Chicago to Anaheim.

Salei also had an assist in his first game of the season after serving a five-game suspension and being scratched Sunday against the Phoenix Coyotes.

It cannot accurately be reported that the Ducks dominated the Lightning in any way, shape or form, but they certainly had their moments after overcoming their second consecutive sluggish start.

Like Sunday’s 2-2 tie against the Coyotes, the Ducks staggered at the opening bell. They looked slow and disorganized for the game’s first 10 minutes or so.

Against another team, on another night, they might have been down by a couple of goals.

But this was the Lightning, after all, and there was at least a small margin of error for the Ducks.

Certainly, the Ducks won’t be able to get away with a shoddy start on the road Friday against the Dallas Stars or Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.