Fedorov, Ducks Lost in the Crowd

Sergei Fedorov was nearly overcome by emotion Wednesday night. The Mighty Ducks were simply overcome.

Fedorov’s much-anticipated return to Detroit, his home for 13 seasons until he signed with the Ducks last summer, was memorable for the wrong reasons. First there were the boos, which cascaded down from the far reaches of Joe Louis Arena when he skated onto the ice for the warmups and intensified each time he touched the puck during the game.

Then there was the bloody cut on his left ear inflicted by a high stick, which kept him in the locker room for repairs early in the second period.

Finally, there was a 7-2 loss, one more goal than the Red Wings scored in being swept out of the playoffs by the Ducks last spring. The Ducks’ worst defeat this season extended their road winless streak to 0-4-2-3 since Oct. 29, and they can no longer think they’ll get by on points from overtime losses.

“Tonight for us, it was a disaster,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “I feel bad for Sergei....I thought we let Sergei down here.”

Fedorov acknowledged he found it difficult to control his emotions before the game but said he wasn’t fazed by the rude reception. “I didn’t think too much about that,” he said. “It wasn’t really a factor.”

He arrived early enough to chat with a few former teammates and to greet Vladimir Konstantinov, the defenseman who was grievously injured in a car accident after Detroit’s 1997 Cup triumph.

“I never expected too many feelings to fall on me,” Fedorov said. “It was not easy. As the game went on, I felt better.”

In no other sense did anything go better for the Ducks.

Babcock pulled Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the first time this season and brought in Martin Gerber after Giguere gave up four goals on 24 shots. It was a mercy move, because turnovers and defensive zone mistakes left Giguere facing too many high-percentage shots.

“The chances are hard but my job is to try to find a way to make saves,” said Giguere, who stopped 165 of 171 Detroit shots during their playoff series. “I’m not going to criticize anybody.”

He couldn’t do much against the giveaways that continue to undermine the Ducks’ efforts. Pavel Datsyuk, who moved up on Detroit’s depth chart after Fedorov departed, scored two goals and assisted on two. Brett Hull scored the 729th goal of his career, moving within two of tying Marcel Dionne for third place on the NHL goal-scoring list, and Brendan Shanahan scored his 542nd, moving him into 20th place.

“If this isn’t a wakeup call, nothing is,” Babcock said. “There are some highs and lows in a season, but you’ve got to respond.”

They weren’t in bad shape early, although a misplay by Niclas Havelid gave Kris Draper a chance to set up Mark Mowers in the slot for the Red Wings’ first goal at 4:32. And when Duck winger Stanislov Chistov raced in alone and slammed a hard shot off the spot the post and crossbar meet, the team still had reason for optimism.

But then Datsyuk beat Steve Rucchin on a faceoff and fed Hull for a one-timer and a 2-0 Detroit lead at 14:39. Maltby was alone in front to convert a pass from Jason Woolley at 8:55 of the second period, and 50 seconds later, Jason Williams beat Giguere with a rising shot from the lower edge of the right circle at 9:45.

Fedorov scored on a wrist shot from the right side at 15:20, his ninth goal, but the Red Wings scored again after a faceoff, on a redirection by Datsyuk.

After Shanahan made it 7-1, Duck rookie Tony Martensson, recalled from Cincinnati of the American Hockey League Tuesday, scored his first NHL goal on a wrist shot at 8:13. Fedorov said he was glad the game was over, a sentiment his teammates shared for other reasons. “We just did a lot of watching,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We watched the puck a lot. We weren’t skating or getting into position. We’re a team that’s very structured, and when we play together we have success. When we don’t, this is what happens.”