Giguere Knew He Was Right

As if Mighty Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere didn’t have enough to do Thursday, he had to play referee in the first overtime.

Giguere frantically waved his arms after Luc Robitaille appeared to win the game 9:21 into overtime. Robitaille had picked up a Duck turnover in the neutral zone, skated past defenseman Kurt Sauer and fired a shot on goal. The red light went on, the fans roared, and even the Red Wings seemed to be ready to call it a victory, some heading to the dressing room.

But Giguere immediately began flapping his arms and asking for a replay, which showed the puck clanged off the crossbar. The goal was disallowed.

“I heard the sound of the crossbar and turned around and saw the wet spot where it hit,” Giguere said.

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Home ice has been anything but an advantage in the playoffs so far.

The lower-seeded road teams won three of four games Wednesday and all four games Thursday, including the Mighty Ducks’ victory at Joe Louis Arena. The New Jersey Devils, seeded second in the East, were the only team to break that pattern with a victory over the seventh-seeded Boston Bruins.

Is it a pattern or an aberration?

“I think it’s more that there’s not so much difference between the No. 1 and No. 8 teams,” said Duck center Steve Rucchin, who won the faceoff that led to Paul Kariya’s winning goal.

Detroit Coach Dave Lewis also noticed the unlikely success of visiting teams.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” he said. “It’s just a team that snuck into a home building and found a way to win a hockey game with whatever.”

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The Ducks got the pick-me-up they needed from center Adam Oates near the end of the first period. With the Red Wings leading, 1-0, Duck defenseman Niclas Havelid fired a shot that goalie Curtis Joseph knocked away with his stick. Oates swooped in and tucked in a nifty back-hander to tie the score.

“That was big to get one before the period ended,” Oates said.

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Mathieu Schneider hasn’t stopped smiling since the deadline-day trade that sent him from the Kings to the Red Wings.

“It’s a great place to play,” said Schneider, who played 40:17 Thursday. “The atmosphere is great.”

Lewis was delighted to add him to the lineup. “He’s actually better than I thought he was,” Lewis said. “He’s a good passer, he plays with an edge and he’s got a tremendous shot.”