Ducks Hoping This Is Not a Preview of Things to Come

Motown or Valley of the Sun? Rust Belt or Sun Belt? Hell or heaven?

Where would you rather go for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs later this month?

The Mighty Ducks will take Phoenix over Detroit any day of the week and twice on Sunday. The Coyotes are beatable. The retooled Red Wings evidently are not, as the Ducks learned in a 3-2 loss Monday at Joe Louis Arena.

“I think it would be a way better situation to play against Phoenix,” Duck right wing Teemu Selanne said. “That’s our goal right now. In my mind, playing Phoenix would be so much better for us in the first round.”

The Ducks’ task heading into the final six games of the regular season appears to be simple: win four or five, secure fifth place in the Western Conference and face No. 4 Phoenix in the playoffs. The Ducks are 2-1-2 against the Coyotes.

If the Ducks finish sixth, they will get stuck playing Detroit.

Monday’s victory enabled Detroit to win the season series against the Ducks by three games to one. The Ducks are 1-7-3 in their six-season history at Detroit and 4-15-5 overall against the Red Wings.

A month ago, the Red Wings looked tired and incapable of presenting anything new in their game. The Ducks handled them with ease, 3-1, March 7 at Anaheim.

But several deadline-day trades have re-energized the Red Wings, who won their seventh consecutive game since acquiring defensemen Chris Chelios and Ulf Samuelsson, forward Wendel Clark and goalie Bill Ranford on March 23.

Now, a third consecutive Stanley Cup championship seems possible for Detroit. Based on Monday’s performance, thumping the Ducks in the first round appears to be almost a certainty.

Meanwhile, the Ducks are only two points ahead of the sixth-place St. Louis Blues, who tied the Maple Leafs, 2-2, Monday at Toronto. It might have been a one-point lead today, but the Maple Leafs rallied to tie with two third-period goals.

“I’m not worried,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “If we win some games, we won’t be back here in the first round.”

Said Selanne: “We still have a chance to beat Detroit, but’s a little bit more difficult. Tonight, we gave the Red Wings way too much respect.”

Too many goals, too.

Detroit built a 3-0 lead entering the third period, but the Ducks rallied on goals by Tomas Sandstrom and Matt Cullen. Selanne assisted on Cullen’s goal for his team-leading 100th point.

The Red Wings dominated early, but faltered down the stretch. They didn’t have a victory in hand until Ranford stopped Paul Kariya’s blistering slap shot from the high slot at the buzzer.

Ranford faced only 18 shots, but many were top-quality scoring chances. With the Red Wings leading, 1-0, Ranford stopped Sandstrom and Kariya on breakaways early in the second period. Cullen also couldn’t produce the game-tying goal on a point-blank try.

Moments later, Brendan Shanahan scored to give Detroit a 2-0 lead at 4:13 of the second period. Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman also scored for the Red Wings.

As has become their custom on this trip, the Ducks staggered at the start. This time, the Ducks could pin some of the blame for an early deficit on the Red Wings’ standout play in the first two periods.

“We finally decided our respect factor was way too high and we decided to work,” Hartsburg said. “In the third period, we played like the team we know we can be. [The Red Wings] are a great team. They had something to do with it.”

The Ducks finally turned up the intensity on their forecheck, forcing Detroit’s defensemen to make a few mistakes with the puck. The Ducks also began throwing a few checks.

“We didn’t play the way we should have in the first two periods, so we didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Hartsburg said. “Our starts against two very good teams have been poor. You can’t do that against good teams like New Jersey [en route to a 7-1 loss last Wednesday at East Rutherford, N.J.] and Detroit.

“It’s not very often that you’re going to win when you fall behind by two or three goals.”