Three Up, One to Glow

There was a time when the Mighty Ducks knew only pain and suffering when playing the Detroit Red Wings.

Their first loss as a franchise, a lopsided one, was to the Red Wings. Twice they were swept out of the playoffs by the Red Wings. They had to endure hordes of Red Wing fans buying up tickets at the Arrowhead Pond to cheer their team.

Exorcism, though, may be at hand.

The Ducks are on the edge of a stunning upset after a 2-1 victory Monday in front of a sellout 17,174 at the Pond gave them a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Another victory Wednesday and the Ducks will have swept the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Stanislav Chistov, who was a kid in Russia a year ago, had a goal and an assist. Samuel Pahlsson, who took his hockey sticks and went home in October, only to return, scored the other goal. Jean-Sebastien Giguere baffled the Red Wings once again to make the two goals hold up.

That left the Ducks in a position not even they thought possible, although forward Steve Thomas gave it the old college try when asked.

“Yeah, we’re a pretty confident group,” Thomas said, then paused and ‘fessed up. “To tell you the truth we’re not sure.... We still have the hardest game left.”

Only two teams have come back from three games down to win an NHL playoff series, Toronto in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals against Detroit and the New York Islanders in a 1975 second-round series against Pittsburgh.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished, but this is by no means over,” said Duck center Steve Rucchin, who spent another night hounding the Red Wings’ Sergei Fedorov. “That team can win four games easily. I’ve seen it happen too many times.”

The Ducks, though, have the momentum, which on Monday was provided by Thomas, Chistov and Pahlsson. Those three have thrived, while the Red Wings’ line of Henrik Zetterberg, Brett Hull and Pavel Datsyuk, which had 36 goals and 93 points over the final 27 regular-season games, has been shut out.

The sparkplug was Chistov, who dashed here and there and generally made a 19-year-old pest of himself, particularly when he scored what turned out to be the decisive goal.

Chistov, the fifth overall draft pick in 2001, burst into the zone, picked the puck off of goalie Curtis Joseph’s stick behind the net, circled to the other side and banked a shot off a Detroit player’s skate and into the net for a 2-0 lead 1:44 into the third period.

A year ago, Chistov was stuck in Russia, his club team having forced him into the army to keep him home. He received his discharge papers in June and the Ducks swooped in to sign him.

Chistov also set up the first goal, when he batted the puck away from Detroit’s Dmitri Bykov in the neutral zone and tapped it ahead. Pahlsson picked it up and, even with Jason Woolley’s stick in his midsection, managed to get off a shot that sailed over Joseph’s shoulder and into the net 2:31 into the second period.

“I said before the series that his line could be the difference,” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said. “Chistov has the skill and Pahlsson, since he came back from his European vacation, has been a phenomenal player.”

Pahlsson could not have anticipated this in October when, upset about being sent to the minor leagues, he went home to Sweden. He returned in January and was recalled two weeks later.

“I really had no other option, I had to come back,” Pahlsson said. “I wasn’t sure if the Ducks still wanted me, I just came back and played. I must have made the right decision.”

Giguere, who stopped 36 of 37 shots, allowed a power-play goal by Tomas Holmstrom 13:44 into the third period, but smothered the Red Wings’ last best chance, a point-blank shot by Zetterberg.

Giguere got some breaks too. Brendan Shanahan hit the crossbar during a first-period power play. The rest was pretty much just Giguere dominating a team with five players who have scored 400 or more career goals.

“Giguere has been the difference in every game,” Detroit Coach Dave Lewis said. “It’s no fluke.”

The Red Wings tried to create more traffic in front of the net and, at times, tried to put Giguere in the net with bull-like charges. That resulted in scrums between the teams, one of which broke out as they left the ice after the second period.

“It’s not my job to hack at guys,” Giguere said. “It’s my job to stop shots.

“I really can’t take credit for all this. My defense has done a really good job in front of me. They let me see shots and clear the puck. We ain’t going nowhere on one guy. It takes all 20 of us.”