Carney Keeps Ducks Afloat

Mighty Duck defenseman Keith Carney has an impressive resume.

Dependable defenseman. Intelligent player. Durable athlete. The credentials, though, are left on the cutting room floor when the highlights are shown.

Carney created some on-air time for himself Tuesday. He whipped a shot past Jeff Hackett to help the Ducks bail a little water with a 2-2 tie against the Montreal Canadiens in front of 19,521 at the Bell Centre.

In overtime, Carney was back to his usual chores, derailing Oleg Petrov, who had nearly worked himself through the Duck defense for what would have been a point-blank shot with 20 seconds left.

The tie may not rate a parade at Disneyland, but it was worth a sigh of relief from the Ducks.

“We definitely don’t want a situation [that] we went through last year, to be out of the playoff race as early as we were,” said Carney, who assisted Matt Cullen’s first-period goal. “We’re not going to accept that this year.”

The Ducks were close to being boxed into that corner. They blew a two-goal lead and lost, 4-3, Saturday to Edmonton and went belly up Monday against Toronto, 5-2. There were concerns heading into Montreal.

Instead, the Ducks survived Hackett’s cirque du soleil in goal and came away with a point.

“Well, I mean, is that the same group we had last night?” Coach Mike Babcock said. “A night later, after you got in at 3 a.m. and you can play like that? It’s not the opposition, I have said that many times, it’s us. We’ve got to decide that the Mighty Ducks are allowed to be good.”

Babcock juggled his lineup, sitting veteran defenseman Fredrik Olausson, who was brought in to spruce up the Duck offense. Babcock said he sat the 37-year-old Olausson because of back-to-back games. But Olausson has yet to record a point this season.

In fact, Duck defensemen accounted for only one goal and nine points before Tuesday. Carney, who had a consecutive games streak of 262 game streak ended last season because of an injury, is the Ducks’ top offensive defenseman, with a goal and four points.

“We moved the defense around tonight and got better play from everybody,” Babcock said.

“We sure challenged our guys today. After last night, we needed to respond, to ourselves more than anybody.”

Two things were clear after Tuesday’s game.

A goalie controversy does not exist at the moment in Montreal. The Canadiens have a starting goalie in Hackett and a backup in Jose Theodore, who has the Hart Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, a three-year $16.5-million contract, and a 4.38 goals-against average.

The other was that the Ducks could get through some tough times.

Hackett stopped 31 of 33 shots. He was invulnerable in the second period, stopping 17 shots, including seven in a two-minute stretch, to preserve a 2-1 lead.

The Ducks broke through at 15 minutes 8 seconds of the third period. Steve Rucchin centered to Carney, who zipped a shot between Hackett’s legs for his 33rd goal in 658 games.

“There is no reason we can’t play like that every night,” Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said.

Giguere knows that well. One of the best-kept secrets in the NHL last season, he was left on the bench recently. But he came up with his best game of the season against the Canadiens, stopping 22 of 24 shots.

The only mistake Giguere made came late in the first period, when he stumbled and Mariusz Czerkawski tossed in a back-hander from a difficult angle near the boards to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead.

“Whenever something goes wrong, we always revert to the previous [way we played],” Babcock said. “That is why it was good for us to come back and win tonight.”