Goal Resonates for McDonald

Andy McDonald never saw the goal. His first clue was the reaction from a cozy group of spectators at the Arrowhead Pond on Sunday.

By the time McDonald’s chip shot went in to give the Mighty Ducks a 3-2 overtime victory over the Colorado Avalanche, he was face down on the ice, courtesy of a Joe Sakic shoulder.

“I never saw it,” McDonald said. “I heard the crowd, that is good enough for me.”

Faint praise, indeed, volume-wise anyway. As much sound that an announced 12,838 could make was a relief to the Ducks, who overcame two Sakic goals and the fact they let a 2-1 lead slip away in the third period for the second consecutive game.

“This was a huge win for us,” McDonald said. “I think we played one of our better games and, even though they tied it up in the third, it was nice to come out with a win to reflect how we played.”

The Ducks, who gave up a late goal in a 2-2 tie with Vancouver on Friday, surrendered another 2-1 lead Sunday, when Sakic fired in a shot with eight minutes left. That became less of a concern when Mike Leclerc slipped a pass to a charging Ruslan Salei, whose shot was stopped by goalie David Aebischer.

The rebound went right to McDonald, who was momentarily alone on the left.

“I think they lost me,” said the 5-foot-10 McDonald. “Or they were on a line change. The puck bounced off the goalie and rolled a little bit. There was a guy all over me. I was just happy to get a fairly decent shot on net.”

The goal ended a game that gave high marks to what General Manager Bryan Murray did on his summer vacation, an essay that could be read on the stat sheet.

Stanislav Chistov, the Ducks’ first-round pick in 2001, came from Russia in June and was signed in July. He gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead in the first period by lurking near the right post and sweeping in a puck that trickled into the crease after an Aebischer save.

Adam Oates, signed as a free agent, and Petr Sykora, acquired in a trade, were here to make the offense, particularly the power, better. On a second-period power play, Sykora took an Oates pass at the point and zipped a shot past Aebischer for his first goal as a Duck and a 2-1 lead.

Kurt Sauer, the juniors-to-the-NHL defenseman, was basically stolen from Colorado over the summer. He was a third-round pick in 2000, but the Avalanche was unable to sign him and he was declared a free agent. The Ducks bid $1.102 million, the Avalanche $900,000, which left Sauer facing those who could have been his teammates Sunday.

“Actually, when Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg are coming down the ice, you really don’t have time to think, ‘Hey, this is the team that drafted me,’ ” Sauer said. “You’re a little busy.”

Sauer got busy in overtime, chasing down Forsberg, who had a breakaway in overtime. Sauer got back and harassed Forsberg enough to force a poor shot attempt.

“When you see it’s No. 21 on a breakaway, you better get going,” Sauer said.

And, in the end, there was McDonald, a pet player of Murray’s last season. McDonald was demoted to the minors during training camp, then recalled three times, sticking in December. He played well enough to be rewarded with a two-year, $1.225-million contract.

A bargain rate, considering McDonald leads the Ducks with six points this season, after a goal and an assist against the Avalanche.

“You can see a big difference in Andy this season,” team captain Paul Kariya said. “He was one of the earliest cuts last year, but continued to work and persevered and now look at him.”