With 133 Saves in Three Games, Giguere Gives the Ducks a Capable

Mighty Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere stepped into the glare of lights blazing from the half-dozen TV camera crews that found the Arrowhead Pond this week. He handled answers as if he were putting away the fine china at home.

“Some of the questions are pretty tricky,” Giguere said after the “Live From the Pond” crowd had moved on. “I don’t want to say anything that could fire those guys up.”

Giguere goes from those bright lights to the spotlight tonight and will face “those guys” -- the Detroit Red Wings -- in Game 4 of their Stanley Cup playoff first-round series at the Pond.

Because the Ducks are one game from eliminating the defending Cup champions, Giguere and his teammates are skating as if on thin ice during interviews with reporters.

“Any team that is down, 3-0, especially a team like Detroit, is going to be a desperate team,” veteran right wing Steve Thomas said. “We have to bring our best game to get No. 4 and not go back to Detroit.”

Only two teams have come back from being three games down to win the series, Toronto in the 1942 Stanley Cup final against Detroit and the New York Islanders in a 1975 second-round series against Pittsburgh. The Ducks, though, remained wary, saying all the right things, mentioning frequently that the Red Wings were the Stanley Cup champions.

“This is exciting and fun, playing a team of this caliber,” center Adam Oates said. “But they are still the Stanley Cup champions. We have to keep that in mind. There is no chance we’ll be overconfident.”

The mood among the circled wagons in the Red Wings’ dressing room was a bit different.

“I’m not going to say anything about their team, to build them up,” Red Wing center Sergei Fedorov said. “I’ll talk about our team. We’re very, very angry. We have had so many opportunities.”

Just where that anger is being directed was a little vague.

“I’ll wait and say later,” Fedorov said. “But we’re angry.

“We have to go out and treat this game like it was Game 7. We have been in many of those before. We know what to do.”

The Red Wings’ anger could have something to do with the role reversal the Ducks have managed. The Ducks have received help from their chorus lines, their goalie is playing as if he had years of playoff experience and even the ballyhooed Paul Kariya-Chris Chelios feud has flip-flopped. Kariya dropped Chelios with an elbow during Monday’s game.

“I just got my elbow up a little high,” Kariya said.

That’s all?

“Have I ever lied to you guys?” Kariya said.

The Red Wings have bigger problems to worry about.

There is no denying the Red Wings’ talent. Yet, they have been held to four goals in three games. Fedorov, hounded by Duck center Steve Rucchin, had only one shot in a 2-1 loss Monday. Rob Niedermayer and Mike Leclerc tossed their big bodies around, skating with Rucchin in that game.

The Red Wings’ second line of Brett Hull, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, which had 36 goals in the last 27 regular-season games, has been shut out.

The Ducks have won three games without a point from Petr Sykora, who had a team-high 34 goals during the regular season. The Ducks’ last three goals have been scored by their third line, Thomas, Samuel Pahlsson and Stanislav Chistov.

“[Chistov] has been unbelievable,” Kariya said. “That whole line has been fantastic.”

Giguere has had a hand -- and a glove and a stick and a pad -- in that defensive smothering. He has stopped 133 of 137 shots, baffling the NHL’s top offensive team during the regular season.

“I’ll go home tonight and try to visualize the game,” Giguere said. “But I don’t want to think about it too much. You can over-prepare. I’ll leave it until two hours before the game.”

Then it will be lights, camera, action, followed, the Ducks hope, by, “That’s a wrap.”