Ducks Looking for Some Respect

The Mighty Ducks win again.

Yeah, it was that hot goalie again, J.S. Whatshisname, as the film-at-11 gang that is popping out to the Arrowhead Pond more often these days tends to prattle about, although they now know it’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

All the bounces have gone the Ducks’ way, as Dallas center Jason Arnott said Sunday with the Stars preparing for tonight’s Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal at the Pond.

Referees? I thought they were auditioning for the lead in “Tommy,” you know deaf, dumb and blind, which is what seemed to be the point of center Mike Modano’s shtick about the Ducks’ use of sticks in Saturday’s 4-3 over loss.

And so it goes.

The Ducks shrug. They have won six consecutive playoff games, four in overtime. Yet an image remains. They have the Stars down, 2-0, in the best-of-seven series.

“Maybe we haven’t gotten the respect that the whole team deserves,” Giguere said. “Maybe that’s because we haven’t won anything yet. After the last few years, I guess it is going to take a lot of wins for people to see that the Ducks are a good team now.

“I’m sure the team in the other dressing room is taking us seriously. They are not taking us lightly.”

Maybe so, but ...

Modano blamed game officials Saturday, saying, “our arms look like we’re heroin addicts from the slashes and hooks.”

Arnott put it down to luck, especially Rob Niedermayer’s goal off a skate that erased Dallas’ 2-1 lead with 1 minute 9 seconds left Saturday.

Even Dallas Coach Dave Tippett seems to look at the situation as “Stars lose” rather than “Ducks win.”

“We looked at the tapes and we had a lot of [scoring] chances,” Tippett said. “It was very lopsided in our favor.”

Told that Duck Coach Mike Babcock had Saturday’s scoring chances clocked at 16-13 in favor of Dallas, Tippett said: “Everyone has their own way of looking at things.”

The way the Ducks looked at this series is they were prepared for it, physically and mentally.

The Ducks blew a 3-1 second-period lead, giving up the tying goal with 2:47 left in regulation, in Game 1 on Thursday. The Ducks won in the fifth overtime.

The Stars blew a 2-1 lead, giving up the tying goal with 1:09 left in regulation, in Game 2. The Ducks won in overtime.

“We played a lot of close games this season,” Duck captain Paul Kariya said. “We’re used to those situations, up one or down one. That gives you confidence. You’re not panicking.”

The reasons for the Duck success seem to have been simplified.

That Giguere is propping them up has lingered since his brilliant Game 1 performance against Detroit. He stopped 60 of 63 shots in the triple-overtime victory and experts continue to portray him as carrying the team through the playoffs.

“They are riding their goalie right now,” Modano said after Saturday’s game. “We have to bring him down.”

Yet Giguere has been only part of the picture. The Ducks have goals from 10 players in the playoffs, including a team-high three from fourth-line center Jason Krog. Four players have scored overtime goals.

The defense, led by the steady Keith Carney, has cut down the number of shots that Giguere has faced.

“I think everyone deserves more credit than they are getting,” said Giguere, who is far and away the Duck leader in TV interviews. “I have said all along that it is a team game.... Everyone deserves the spotlight here.”

The Stars feel they have outplayed the Ducks and were the victims of bad breaks, such as Niedermayer’s tying goal. But that goal was the result Petr Sykora’s hard work along the boards and Niedermayer’s willingness to battle in front of the net.

“We have played really well and have had all kinds of chances,” Arnott said. “We just haven’t put them in the net. We need to come out and play desperate in Game 3.”

Modano got some early prep work in for tonight’s game, with a postgame interview Saturday that included colorful drug references, the perfect attention-grabbing sound bites ... Just Say No to Ducks?

“Mike is an emotional guy,” Tippett said.

“He wants to win bad. That was coming from his heart.”

The Ducks were not taking it to heart. They went about their business Sunday, as they have for the last three weeks.

“We don’t really care what’s being said outside this dressing room,” Kariya said.

Inside it, there is a strong belief in what’s behind the Ducks’ success.

“I think we have a pretty good team,” Babcock said.

“I’ve said that all along.”