Ducks Make Best of a Sticky Situation, 4-2

The Colorado Avalanche got kicked from one end of the Pepsi Center to the other before finally fighting a battle it could win Wednesday against the Mighty Ducks.

The Avalanche challenged the legality of the sticks of winger Teemu Selanne and goaltender Dominic Roussel midway through the third period, winning both and injecting some intrigue into what had been a one-sided game.

The Avalanche’s third-period rally didn’t get far, however. Selanne put the game out of reach with a wicked blast past goalie Patrick Roy with 5:30 left and the Ducks held on for a 4-2 victory.

With Colorado down, 3-1, referees Mark Faucette and Greg Kimmerly nabbed Selanne for having too much curve on the blade of his stick at 8:58 of the final period.

When the power play seemed headed nowhere, the Avalanche asked for a measurement of Roussel’s stick at 10:04. Roussel’s stick was found to be too wide at the blade.

Colorado scored on the ensuing two-man advantage, which was really a three-man advantage when defenseman Ruslan Salei broke his stick on Peter Forsberg’s back.

Avalanche defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh’s goal at the 10:45 mark narrowed the Duck lead to 3-2.

Selanne got the last laugh, scoring his 14th goal of the season and making the Ducks winners in their fourth consecutive road game.

“What a sweet one,” Selanne said. “This game was in our hands all the way. Those guys [Colorado] couldn’t do anything else. We knew those guys weren’t going to beat us. We had no problems with them.”

Selanne believed his stick would have been legal if the referees had removed some tape from the blade. They refused, however.

“I knew my stick was close to being legal,” Selanne said. “If they took the tape off, it’s not illegal. But they wouldn’t take the tape off.”

Several years ago, Roussel asked the manufacturer to make sure his sticks were legal. He said it had been awhile since he measured them himself, however.

“I was surprised,” he said. “I’ll check all my sticks from now on. I’m just glad it didn’t cost us the game.”

Picking out the crooked sticks was about all Colorado got right Wednesday. But even those small victories were debatable.

“It’s our team’s fault for having the illegal sticks,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “But we’re going to ask the league to investigate this building. Maybe we cheated, but I question how they knew we cheated.

“But Teemu scored and justice was served in the end.”

The Ducks’ sticks were stored after the morning skate in an open area near a door to the Avalanche dressing room. Hartsburg said the Ducks had no way to lock the door and keep out snoops looking for illegal sticks while the Ducks were at their hotel Wednesday afternoon.

“Let this be a lesson for the next team that comes in here,” Hartsburg said. “I don’t blame [Colorado]. They had nothing going until then. Nothing. . . . I just question how they knew.”

The stick measurements overshadowed one of the Ducks’ best all-around performances this season. They carried the play to the Avalanche for most of the first two periods, building a 3-1 lead and holding a 24-13 edge in shots on goal after 40 minutes.

Jeff Nielsen had two goals and Ted Donato one.

Chris Drury scored the first Colorado goal, giving the Avalanche a brief 1-1 tie early in the second period. Nielsen scored the go-ahead goal at 2:26 of the second and the Ducks regained control.

“It was one of those nights when the puck was following me around,” Nielsen said of his second career two-goal game. “It was sweet.”

In many ways the game resembled the Ducks’ 4-1 victory Sunday over the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. Like Sunday’s game, the Ducks kept the puck in the attacking zone for such lengthy stretches it seemed they were on the power play.

But the Ducks were not working over a collection of rookies and castoffs Wednesday. The Avalanche is leading the Northwest Division. Certainly, Colorado missed captain Joe Sakic, sidelined for the ninth game by a nagging rib injury.

Two plays early in the game set the tone, however.

First, Roussel gave a hard-charging Milan Hejduk nothing to shoot at on a breakaway 1:17 into the game. Roussel made 19 saves and improved his record to 4-1-1.

Moments later, Mike Leclerc rocked Colorado’s Chris Dingman off his skates with a tough but legal check in the Avalanche end of the ice. The line of Leclerc, Tony Hrkac and Nielsen was the Ducks’ best Wednesday, according to Hartsburg.