Shields Says Blame Goes to Referees, Not Teammates

It was a short night of work for Mighty Duck goalie Steve Shields in a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.

Shields was pulled 3 minutes 19 seconds into the second period after the Ducks fell behind, 4-0. He saw 13 shots, four of which went in.

It ended a string of solid games by Duck goalies, who had allowed only 28 goals in 16 games. But it was hard to blame Shields because the Red Wings scored on all three of their first-period power plays.

“You don’t want to embarrass your goaltender, you want to get him out,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “We certainly didn’t help very much early on. They had wide-open chances to score goals. I didn’t think it was fair to ask to battle beyond what he did.”

Shields, though, didn’t blame himself or his teammates. He felt that there were other factors involved.

“The whole night was filled with bad calls [by the referees],” Shields said. “I think when a team takes a good penalty, it finds a way to kill it off. It’s the ones where guys are stepping on your sticks and [the referees] call tripping. You get a few of those, it kind of gets to the squad. Those are the ones you get scored on.”

Jean-Sebastien Giguere finished up and stopped 14 of 15 shots.

Shields had allowed only 12 goals in his previous five starts.

“We didn’t play our game in first period,” Shields said. “We should be a lot more confident going into another team’s rink. We may not score a lot of goals, but we can sure as heck play defense as good as anybody in the league. That’s something we should thrive on every game.”

The Ducks outshot Detroit, 15-6, in the third period. But the Wings, who nearly blew a 4-0 lead, have had their problems closing games. They have allowed eight third-period goals, plus an overtime goal, in the last four games, including two by the Ducks on Wednesday.

Former King Luc Robitaille’s first-period goal was the 609th of his career, moving him within one of hall of famer Bobby Hull.

“That’s pretty special because he was a great player,” Robitaille said. “To be named with him is certainly something pretty unique. When I tie him, it will be special.”

Robitaille has 19 goals and 28 points this season.