Ducks Still Have a Wing and a Prayer

Guy Hebert gave himself 10 minutes to be angry Friday night. He tossed a few objects around the Mighty Ducks’ dressing room. He tossed a few obscenities around the joint, too.

Then Hebert managed a faint smile. He knew perfectly well that he and the Ducks sneaked out of Joe Louis Arena with a point they did not deserve.

So Sergei Fedorov’s goal 19 seconds into the five-minute overtime period gave the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory before an announced sellout crowd of 19,995. So what?

The Ducks earned another precious point, their 34th in 37 games.

Given all that’s happened in the last month or so, including the firing of Craig Hartsburg as coach and injuries to Paul Kariya and Steve Rucchin, the Ducks certainly aren’t out of contention in the Western Conference.

Kariya missed his second game because of a broken right foot. Rucchin has been sidelined for 15 of the last 17 games because of a broken nose and cheekbone.

“For sure, it was great to get a point,” Hebert said after the Ducks were outshot, 44-17. “We were able to scratch and claw and play better as the game went on.”

Pierre Gauthier, team president and general manager, greeted each player as he walked from the dressing room to the team bus. He shook each player’s hand and wished him happy holidays. Gauthier departs today for the World Junior championships in Russia.

“Forget OT,” Gauthier told reporters. “Unless it’s against a team you’re fighting with [for a playoff spot], it doesn’t matter. I’d much rather lose, 2-1, in OT, than 1-0 in regulation.”

The Ducks were down a goal after Brendan Shanahan’s power-play goal with 1:06 left in the opening period and were badly outplayed until the closing minutes of regulation. They were outshot, 23-1, after one period and by 35-7 after two.

Suddenly, rookie wing Petr Tenkrat split two flat-footed Red Wings in the neutral zone, accepted a breakout pass from defenseman Jason Marshall and skated in alone on Detroit goalie Manny Legace.

Tenkrat deked Legace to the ice before depositing the puck behind him to tie the score at 1-1 with 2:32 left in regulation. A hush fell over the fans, many of whom were on their way into a frigid night confident the Red Wings would turn back the Ducks.

“I go right and the goalie go left and it’s an easy score,” said Tenkrat of his second goal and fourth point in his fifth NHL game. “I was very happy, of course. I hoped for a win in OT.”

Didn’t happen.

Fedorov, circling quite some distance from Hebert’s net, whipped a high shot through traffic and past the goalie for the game-winner only 19 seconds into the extra period.

“I never saw it,” Hebert said. “I saw this black thing go by. It was a great shot. I’ll give him credit and say he was trying to go upstairs. He put it upstairs knowing there was traffic and that goalies usually go down to their knees.”

A day after the Red Wings were blanked, 2-0, by the San Jose Sharks, Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman called on his players Thursday to get their act together. After all, the Red Wings trail the Central Division-leading St. Louis Blues by three points.

The Red Wings took Bowman’s talk to heart in the first period, throwing everything they had at Hebert. The best the Red Wings could get with a season-high 23 shots in the first period was a 1-0 lead on Shanahan’s power-play goal at 18:54.

Detroit missed a terrific chance to pad the lead, but Hebert stopped Steve Yzerman on a two-on-one break. Kirk Maltby fanned on the rebound and Duck defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky knocked the puck off the goal line before it could trickle home for a 2-0 Red Wing lead 6:44 into the second period.

The play was reviewed by the video goal judge, but replays were inconclusive and there was no goal.

“It was like watching a car crash in slow motion,” Hebert said. “I got [Yzerman’s shot] with the cuff of my glove. I was hoping it would go up and over the net. It started bouncing behind me and Oleg got it. I’ll probably have to buy him a soda or something. I probably had the best view and I couldn’t tell if it was in the net.”