Ducks Not Wild About Defeat

Teemu Selanne, angry and frustrated, wasted no time giving his opinion Sunday night.

“That was embarrassing,” Selanne said.

The Mighty Ducks had just been denied in a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. They were denied a point. They were denied a goal. Their coach was denied an explanation.

All the Ducks knew was the only person who was able to keep Petr Tenkrat from scoring was referee Terry Gregson.

Tenkrat had danced and fought his way from the Duck blue line. He zigged and zagged through two defenders, and fired a shot that hit goalie Manny Fernandez. The puck caromed off Tenkrat’s shoulder for an apparent game-tying goal with 3 minutes 20 seconds left.

The Ducks celebrated. Referees conferred. The crowd of 18,064 in the Excel Energy Center went wild when the goal was disallowed. The official explanation was that Gregson had blown the whistle before the puck went into the net.

Selanne had no doubt.

“He asked [the other referee] if the puck was in the net,” Selanne said. “If he didn’t see that, how can he be sure he blew the whistle before? This is the NHL. There are two referees. They have a goal judge. To miss a goal like that, it’s embarrassing.

“Everybody saw it on the replay. Maybe he had a New Year’s party or something and didn’t want to go to overtime.”

Duck Coach Guy Charron said he did not get an explanation.

“I asked the linesman to approach the referees and they refused to come see me,” Charron said. “There was no question that was a goal.”

Normally the Ducks don’t need any help losing a game, having gone winless in the last six.

Television replays seemed to indicate that the puck went into the net before the whistle. In a postgame statement, Gregson said that he did not “see the puck cross the line prior to the whistling blowing.”

“I had the worst seat in the house on the play and I could see Petr react behind the net before I heard the whistle,” Goalie Guy Hebert said. “In their judgment they made the call they thought was right. On the other hand this one is tough to swallow. We feel like we should have been rewarded tonight. Next two months is our time.”

Not if they are anything like the last three months. The Ducks finished the first half in last place in the Pacific Division.

They worked hard Sunday, tied the score, 2-2, on defenseman Pavel Trnka’s third-period goal--his first since Dec. 3 1999--then saw the opportunity vanish.

The Ducks killed off four penalties in the first period, including being a man down for a seven-minute stretch. Marc Chouinard and Tony Hrkac pounced on a Wild mistake. Fernandez whiffed trying to clear the puck from behind the net. Chouinard fired the puck off Fernandez as he scrambled back to the net. Hrkac tapped it in for a 1-0 lead at 1:53 of the first period.

“I think it was a great effort by our hockey team tonight,” Charron said. “I’m very pleased. This kind of effort, you wish you would get rewarded for it. But that’s hockey.”

The Wild, which has a six-game unbeaten streak, taught the Ducks a lesson in work ethic.

Darby Hendrickson fired a cross-ice pass to Scott Pellerin, who whipped a shot from just outside the left faceoff circle to tie the score, 1-1, at 14:34 of the second period.

The Wild took the lead when Aaron Gavey blasted a shot from the blue line. Hebert appeared to be screened by defenseman Ruslan Salei. The puck went off Hebert’s left leg pad and into the net for a 2-1 Wild lead at 16:27.

The Wild let that lead slip away, yet kept a firm grasp on things. Stacy Roest and Pellerin carved the puck loose behind the net, with Roest feeding Lubomir Sekeras, who scored to give the Wild a 3-2 lead at 14:10.

Tenkrat then made his dash, twisting two Wild players so much that they fell.

“That was a highlight-reel goal,” Charron said.

Only it didn’t count.