Kariya, Ducks in Rare Form

Paul Kariya knows there aren’t many opportunities to score on the Detroit Red Wings, so he took advantage of the few he had.

Kariya had two goals, including the game-winner with 1:04 left, as the Mighty Ducks beat the Red Wings, 2-1, Tuesday night.

“There’s never a lot of chances against them,” Kariya said. “In every game, I get one or two great chances. I was lucky enough to get them both tonight.”

The Ducks beat the Red Wings for the first time in exactly two years and won in Joe Louis Arena for the first time since 1997.

On the winning goal, Kariya skated to a corner to corral a dumped puck, passed it to Jeff Friesen, who quickly got the puck back to Kariya for his 29th goal.

“It was just one of those, get it on your stick and shoot,” Kariya said.

Detroit, which has the best record in the NHL, had won 10 of 12 games. The Ducks are ahead of only Columbus in the Western Conference and have more points than just three teams.

Steve Shields made 28 saves--including several key stops in the third period--for the Ducks.

“Shields was great,” said Duck Coach Bryan Murray, who coached the Red Wings for three seasons before Scotty Bowman was hired in 1993. “And Kariya was really good. He had two chances and he took advantage of both.”

Dominik Hasek made 23 saves.

“We didn’t compete for two periods,” Hasek said. “Then we tried to come back. The way we competed tonight is not the way we need to compete in the playoffs.”

Detroit will compete in the playoffs with essentially the same team that has dominated the league, after deciding against making a big move by Tuesday’s trade deadline.

The Red Wings acquired defenseman Jiri Slegr from the Atlanta Thrashers for minor leaguer Yuri Butsayev and a 2002 third-round pick.

With 3.1 seconds left in the second, Kariya’s slap shot from the left circle on a breakaway went over Hasek’s shoulder to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.