Ducks Prepare for Detroit’s Best Shot

The Motor City morphed Friday into Spin City, with the Mighty Ducks and Detroit Red Wings putting their slants on Thursday night’s game as another approaches today.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 63 saves for the Ducks in a 2-1, triple-overtime victory in Game 1 of their first-round, best-of-seven NHL playoff series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

“When your team is the underdog and you play an overtime game like that and lose, it is more devastating,” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said. “They are a more veteran team. They have been through this. That gives them confidence that they can bounce back.”

The counterpoint was delivered by Brett Hull, the Red Wings’ shoot-from-the-lip veteran.

“He’s full of it,” Hull said. “If you lose, you lose. It doesn’t matter how.”

The players did tread lightly Friday ... except for Hull. One game does not a series make and only Hull was ready to reach beyond general statements.

The Ducks need to create more speed, Babcock said, in order to create more offense and take the pressure off Giguere.

The Red Wings just need Game 2 at Joe Louis Arena to arrive.

“I would be a little more upset if I felt we played a poor game,” Red Wing left wing Kirk Maltby said. “We had a lot of scoring chances. Giguere just kept most of them out of the net.”

The Ducks are hoping that they won’t need another stellar performance from Giguere, who survived a first overtime in which the Red Wings had a 20-4 shot advantage.

The Red Wings are hoping that they have seen the best from Giguere in his playoff debut.

“I hope [Giguere] doesn’t get any better,” Coach Dave Lewis said. “I don’t think it was a fluke. I think he was on top of his game.”

Giguere, who was so dehydrated after the game that he needed an intravenous infusion to restore fluids, was ready Friday to look forward, not back, aware that the Red Wings were not going to quit after one game.

“I don’t think you can frustrate them,” he said. “They have too much experience.”

The Red Wings will lean on that experience. They have trailed in a first-round series. Been there, won that.

It was a year ago that the Red Wings lost the first two games against Vancouver and came back to win the series in six games. Hull, though, did not see any similarities.

Hull said the Red Wings played poorly in the two losses to Vancouver last season. “I thought we played great [Thursday]. It’s still a loss,” he said.

The Ducks expect more pressure from the Red Wings and know the disadvantages of getting trapped playing firehouse hockey. The Red Wings scored four or more goals in eight of their last 12 regular-season games.

“We don’t want to get into that kind of game with them,” said Paul Kariya, who scored the game-winner Thursday 3:18 into the third overtime. “I expect low-scoring games.”

The translation of that in the Detroit dressing room came with the Hull truth and nothing but.

Hull chafed at suggestions the Red Wings needed to get more congestion in front of Giguere. He also made his opinion clear on what he perceived as a sit-back-and-trap style by the Ducks.

“It was gross hockey,” Hull said. Lewis, when told that, said, “OK.”

Hull’s spin: “There is the way we play the game and the way everyone else does. We like to make plays. We don’t throw the puck at the net and then crash.”

Lewis’ damage control: “I think the Ducks are an efficient team that plays an efficient and effective style. They have a plan and a system and they stick to it.”

Part of that plan was to remove Red Wing center Sergei Fedorov from the action. Duck center Steve Rucchin and defenseman Keith Carney were on the ice against Fedorov, who had three shots on goal in the first period and none over the final 83 minutes.

“We’re going to make some minor changes,” Lewis said, adding they would not involve Fedorov.

“He’s the one on the ice,” Lewis said. “I can’t create room for him.”

Babcock, though, was successful at getting Rucchin and Carney in the game every time Fedorov was on the ice.

Luc Robitaille, on the other hand, wanted the Red Wings to stay the course.

Robitaille thought he had won the game in the first overtime with a shot that was called a goal, then overturned when replays showed the puck hit the crossbar. He said the Red Wings need to do a couple of things differently.

“Score two more goals and not hit the post,” he said.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The Series

DUCKS vs. DETROIT

Best of seven; Ducks lead, 1-0

Game 1: Ducks 2, Detroit 1 (3 OT)

Game 2: Today at Detroit, noon, Ch. 7

Game 3: Monday at Ducks, 7:30 p.m., FSN

Game 4: Wednesday at Ducks, 7:30, FSN

Game 5: April 19 at Detroit, noon, Ch. 7*

Game 6: April 20 at Ducks, 7, Ch. 9*

Game 7: April 22 at Detroit, 4, FSN*

*if necessary; all times Pacific