Ducks Are Left With Foul Taste

Everyone on the Mighty Ducks had an instant opinion when Detroit’s Mathieu Dandenault scored a power-play goal that finally wrapped up a 5-3 victory with 1:33 left Wednesday.

Coach Bryan Murray folded his arms in disgust. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere flipped the puck back up ice in frustration. Defenseman Keith Carney slammed his stick in anger.

So close to rallying from a 4-0 deficit against the best team in the NHL, only to let it get away.

Or have it taken away, which was the group opinion in the Duck dressing room.

The Ducks felt they lost a goal with eight minutes left.

Rob Martell ruled he should have blown the whistle before Dan Bylsma poked the puck from under goalie Dominik Hasek’s pad.

The Ducks thought they lost a chance.

Jeff Friesen was called for a roughing penalty when he shoved Detroit’s Kirk Maltby after Maltby had cross-checked Friesen in the back of the head with 2:37 left.

So instead of cruising out of the Motor City with a moment to savor, the Ducks had one--or two--to gripe about.

“It’s just a call you get in Detroit,” Friesen said. “You play Detroit and everyone wants them to get the most points in history, so you know you’re going to be down calls. But that late in the game, just let it play out.

“He cross-checks me and that could have been called. It was stupid to retaliate, but it’s not like I wound up and drilled him. So ... “

So Dandenault scored to send what was left of the 20,058 in Joe Louis Arena home relieved.

It was the Red Wings’ fourth power-play goal of the game, against a Duck team that had killed 30 of its last 31 penalties.

The Red Wings scored three in the first period, jumping out as if they were teaching the Ducks a lesson. But late in the third period, the Ducks were pretty much wiping their feet on the Red Wings.

Samuel Pahlsson scored short-handed in the second period. Oleg Tverdovsky danced around Luc Robitaille and fired a shot past Hasek.

“I thought in the first period we just stood around,” Murray said. “We were trying to play a 1-2-2, but it was like five pylons.

“The first part of the game was embarrassing how we played. Then we got some speed into the game.”

Then Martell took the air out of it.

Hasek made two slick saves, then tried to cover the puck with his right leg pad.

Bylsma poked at it. The puck slid into the net. The goal light flashed. And Martell frantically waved his arms.

“[Referee] Dave Jackson said the puck went in, but [Martell] was thinking of blowing the whistle, therefore it’s as good as if it was blown,” Murray said. “I guess that’s true. I heard that once before in 20 years. To disallow a goal, I wonder.”

Team captain Paul Kariya got a longer version.

“He said you can’t push the guy’s pad and puck in,” Kariya said. “Regardless of whether it went in or not, that was the question.”

Which left Bylsma perplexed.

“Obviously that’s what he gets paid to do, make a judgment call there,” he said. “We were celebrating because we didn’t hear a whistle. The puck was on his pad. I jabbed at the puck.

“I thought until the whistle, you had a right to go after the puck.”

Even Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman complained.

“The puck was frozen actually,” Bowman said. “He should have blown before.”

All of which became important five minutes later when Marc Chouinard knocked in a rebound that would have tied the score, but instead made it 4-3.

“The explanation to me that he was thinking of blowing the whistle, therefore he declared the whistle blown,” Murray said. “That’s a good explanation, but I don’t buy it.

“I shake my head at half the calls. But I [complain] about everything.”

And he did.

Tverdovsky was sent off for holding Kris Draper three minutes into the game.

Five seconds into the power play, Robitaille casually flipped in a rebound for the first of his two points.