Suddenly, Ducks Looking Mighty

The Mighty Ducks talked a pretty good game for, oh, about 70 games. They didn’t fool anyone with their words, however. Their actions told a far more accurate story.

But there were unmistakable signs Sunday that the Ducks may finally have their game in order, and not a moment too soon.

The latest evidence was a passionate performance in a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings before a sellout crowd of 17,174 at the Arrowhead Pond.

Fredrik Olausson scored twice on the power play and Paul Kariya once for the Ducks. Their penalty-killing unit stopped the Red Wings on four of five chances. Goalie Guy Hebert made 33 saves in his fourth consecutive strong showing.

Best of all, the Ducks suffered few noticeable breakdowns. Unlike Friday’s 4-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks, there were no significant lapses of intensity.

The ninth-place Ducks used their speed and smarts to subdue the lifeless Red Wings, and moved within two points of the eighth-place Sharks in the fight for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Ducks are only four points behind the seventh-place Edmonton Oilers.

With nine games left, anything seems possible. Next: the Kings on Tuesday at Staples Center.

“Right now, every game is like a playoff game,” defenseman Ruslan Salei said. “Right now, we’re using anything we can for motivation. Whatever works.”

The Ducks knew before they took the ice Sunday that the Sharks had already lost, 5-3, to the Stars at Dallas. Hopeful of seizing two more points and drawing closer to San Jose, the Ducks wanted to play a sound, intense game.

Then they promptly surrendered a power-play goal to Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom 9:57 into the game.

The first of Olausson’s two power-play goals got the Ducks even at the 14:07 mark. Teemu Selanne, positioned below the goal line to goalie Ken Wregget’s right, spotted Olausson sneaking into the slot. The Red Wings failed to intercept the centering pass and Olausson’s one-timer hit the back of the net.

Olausson put the Ducks ahead to stay, whistling a low slap shot through Steve Rucchin’s screen for a power-play goal 7:32 into the second period. It was the first time in franchise history that a Duck defenseman had scored two power-play goals in the same game.

Kariya put the game out of reach, redirecting Oleg Tverdovsky’s slap shot from near the blue line past Wregget 3:46 into the third period. The Ducks also had three power-play goals this season in a 4-4 tie Feb. 23 against the Vancouver Canucks.

“Things are clicking better on the power play,” Olausson said. “It’s still not picture-perfect yet, but thankfully, the pucks were going in for us.”

Coach Craig Hartsburg gave Olausson solid marks for the Ducks’ power-play success Sunday.

“He’s inspired,” Hartsburg said. “He’s our emotional leader. Right now, he’s helping to lead this team. He’s doing a lot of good things on and off the ice for us.”

Asked for a response to Hartsburg’s comments, Olausson said: “I tend to keep a low profile. Especially at this time of the year, it definitely gets exciting for a 33-year-old defenseman.”

By contrast, the Red Wings seemed emotionless for long stretches Sunday. Brendan Shanahan, Chris Chelios and several others seemed invisible after the first period.

Detroit was coming off a 4-3 victory Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche at Denver, but that was no excuse for Sunday’s clunker, according to Coach Scotty Bowman.

“I’m disappointed in Shanahan on this trip and [Vyacheslav] Kozlov too,” Bowman said. “I felt they didn’t do anything.”

The Red Wings certainly didn’t give their legion of Michigan transplants and bandwagon-jumpers much to shout about Sunday. And with the Red Menace streaming toward the exits in the dying minutes of Detroit’s third consecutive loss in Anaheim, Duck fans chanted:

“Go home Red Wings.”

There was no gloating in the Duck dressing room. “Beating Detroit is a huge win for us,” Hartsburg said. “We have another huge game Tuesday and we have to get ready for it.”