Mighty Effort at the Finish Gives Ducks Tie With Stars

The Dallas Stars were superior to the Mighty Ducks in every way possible Friday, building a two-goal lead and looking very much like the heirs to the Stanley Cup many say they are.

Then the second period started, and the Stars were in for a mighty big shock. The Ducks did not fade away like so many times in the past at Reunion Arena, instead rallying for a 3-3 tie in front of 16,928.

“We were persistent, relentless,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said after the Ducks ended a nine-game losing streak at Dallas.

The Ducks scored not once but twice with goaltender Guy Hebert on the bench in favor of a sixth skater in the final, frantic minute of regulation.

With Anaheim trailing, 3-1, first Steve Rucchin, then Teemu Selanne scored for the Ducks, who extended their unbeaten streak to 3-0-2.

“The first one I didn’t see,” said left wing Jim McKenzie, who was chosen by Hartsburg to be the sixth attacker because of his 6-foot-4, 229-pound frame. “I got spun around and it was already in the net. I took another whack at it and the goalie must have thought I was nuts.

“The guys were all over there celebrating with Rucchin and I was still whacking at the puck.”

Rucchin’s goal, with 38 seconds left in regulation, happened only because McKenzie was so determined to keep the puck alive.

“He got a couple of whacks at it and it popped right there for me,” Rucchin said.

Rucchin showed the same resolve moments later, kicking a loose puck free from a scrum in the right corner to Paul Kariya, who whistled a cross-ice pass to Selanne at the left goal post.

Selanne swept the puck past out-of-position Dallas goalie Roman Turek and into the net with 11.2 seconds left in regulation.

“Hey, whatever it takes,” Rucchin said of making like Ronaldo on the tying goal. “There were some big guys there in the corner and I saw Paul standing there by himself.”

And Kariya, who scored the Ducks’ first goal 2:41 into the third period, certainly saw Selanne standing alone at the left post.

Each team had a quality scoring chance in overtime--Turek making a toe save on Selanne’s slap shot from the top of the right circle and Hebert denying Brett Hull on the left wing.

“We worked hard and we were rewarded,” Hartsburg said. “When they went up, 3-1, we could have said, ‘That’s enough.’ This was a huge point for us.”

Certainly, it seemed Dallas would survive the Duck onslaught after Jere Lehtinen’s goal gave the Stars a 3-1 lead with 1:39 left in regulation. Dallas had taken a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Joe Nieuwendyk, whose second one was the 400th of his career.

Now, the question is whether the Stars can rebound in time for tonight’s showdown against the two-time defending champion Detroit Red Wings.

“We had a bit of an advantage because they were probably looking ahead to Detroit,” McKenzie said.

Given their feeble history at Reunion Arena, no one could have counted on the Ducks to give the Stars much trouble Friday.

To be sure, the Ducks did not embarrass themselves in the early minutes of the game. They had their share of scoring chances against Turek, and more than held their own along the boards and in front of the net.

But just as the Ducks played short-attention-span hockey and got away with it in a 5-3 victory Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Stars played with varying degrees of intensity after the first period Friday.

In the first two periods, about all the Ducks could do against the Stars was beat them up--again.

Defenseman Jamie Pushor delivered a crushing check to Lehtinen, knocking off his helmet and sending him crashing into the boards. Right wing Mike Keane jumped to Lehtinen’s defense, but Pushor punched him out.

Earlier, Duck left wing Stu Grimson got the better of former Duck Brent Severyn in a fight along the boards.

It was Severyn who last March 13 delivered a payback to Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor, punching him without mercy, after Star defenseman Craig Ludwig slammed Selanne against the boards.

“Stu fired us up with that lopsided fight,” McKenzie said. “You gotta feed off things like that--whether it’s a great goal or a fight.”