Chistov Goes After Net Results

Mighty Duck left wing Stanislav Chistov skated down the right side and remembered the harping of Coach Mike Babcock.

So Chistov flipped a harmless-looking shot on net ... and the puck grazed Detroit goalie Curtis Joseph and plopped down in the net for the Ducks’ first goal Saturday.

“There was no play,” Chistov said. “Mike always tells me to throw the puck on the net. I tried that. When I skated behind the net and looked down, the puck was in the net. I was surprised.”

Chistov is one of the Ducks who have been going through a little on-the-playoff-job training. The Ducks have had six players score their first playoff points during the first two games of the series. Joining in Saturday where Chistov, Samuel Pahlsson, who assisted on Chistov’s goal, and Jason Krog, who scored the tying goal.

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Steve Thomas was happy to have had the opportunity to redeem himself Saturday. He got caught watching Luc Robitaille bat in the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Thomas scored the game-winner in the third period.

“There was a bit of retribution there,” Thomas said. “I knew I had given one up there earlier. That was blatantly my man. A guy who has spent 19 years in the league should know better than to miss an assignment. I take full responsibility for that.”

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Thomas scored 10 goals in the final 13 regular-season games after being acquired in a trade-deadline deal March 11. Rob Niedermayer also arrived that day and has taken a back seat because of Thomas’ hot streak.

But it was Niedermayer who assisted on the score-tying and game-winning goals Saturday.

“Rob has been important,” team captain Paul Kariya said. “He’s a big guy who can skate. He is very good defensively.”

-- Chris Foster

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Former NHL goalie John Davidson, a commentator for several networks, said he was impressed by Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and surprised by the Ducks after their two victories over Detroit.

“What I find really interesting is how he moves from side to side,” Davidson said. “For a kid that size [6 feet 1 and 199 pounds] he moves really well....The other thing is he doesn’t over-handle the puck, which some young goalies do. That shows he’s mature.”

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Detroit Coach Dave Lewis mixed his lines around Saturday, using Steve Yzerman with Robitaille and Igor Larionov and putting Tomas Holmstrom on the right side with Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan. He was especially pleased with the Robitaille-Larionov-Yzerman trio.

“It was a different look,” he said, “and as it turned out, Luc did score a goal and Sergei got an assist. It’s a good line and you can play any one of those four lines at any situation.”

-- Helene Elliott