Can’t Sell Ducks Short-Handed

With the score tied and the Chicago Blackhawks on a power play with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period, the stage was set for another Mighty Duck collapse.

But instead of giving up a late game-winning goal, the Ducks scored one of their own when Steve Rucchin deflected in a long-range shot by Keith Carney to give the Ducks a 4-3 victory in front of 14,616 at United Center.

“Keith just put the puck in the perfect spot,” Rucchin said of Carney’s shot from the left point. “If it was anywhere else, I don’t think it would have found the back of the net. He put it on the far end side of the net and there wasn’t too much [Chicago goaltender Jocelyn] Thibault could have done.”

Rucchin’s short-handed goal gave the Ducks their lone victory in a three-game trip that concluded with the Blackhawks.

The win spoiled Theo Fleury’s return from suspension for the Blackhawks.

What made the victory so special to the Ducks was how they held on to the lead, something they’ve failed to do in several games this season.

“Scoring a goal on the PK [penalty kill] gave us a huge momentum builder,” said goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who finished with 17 saves. “It came late in the period, and we kept playing on that momentum. We didn’t give them anything. We kept working hard and were not afraid of making any mistakes. This was a good experience for us.”

Although the Ducks and Blackhawks are two of the NHL’s lowest-scoring teams, they had their offenses clicking in a high-scoring first period, which featured four goals.

Fleury, who missed the first 25 games of the season for violating the NHL’s substance abuse aftercare program, got things going when he scored his first goal as a Blackhawk on a rebound shot from the slot at 10:15.

Andy McDonald ended a five-game scoreless streak with his sixth goal this season to pull the Ducks even, 1-1. McDonald went around defenseman Nathan Dempsey in the neutral zone and then slipped the puck under Thibault at 13:49.

Chicago needed only 40 seconds to regain the lead on a goal by Mark Bell, but the Ducks’ Jason Krog followed with a goal at 15:36 to tie the score at 2-2.

In the second period, the Ducks took their first lead when Petr Sykora scored a five-on-three power play at 11:09.

The key to the score was Adam Oates’ cross-ice pass that went between Dempsey’s legs directly to Sykora, who scored easily from outside the right post.

The Ducks controlled play the rest of the period until 14.2 seconds remained when they gave up a goal to Alexei Zhamnov, who had a shot by teammate Eric Daze bounce off his pants and go into the net to tie the score, 3-3.

“That was a real tough goal to give up ... especially when you didn’t really do anything wrong,” said Duck Coach Mike Babcock, who gave his team Thursday off so they could rest. “It was just a lucky break by them.”