Ducks Keep Their Focus

Yes, those were the Detroit Red Wings.

A roster heavy with future Hall of Famers, winners of three Stanley Cups in the last six seasons, pedigree skating against the wannabes in most games. That made it a moment to savor for the Mighty Ducks.

But only after they had finished off a 4-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174 Sunday.

The Red Wings and their eight-game winning streak were given the bum’s rush out of the Arrowhead Pond by the Ducks, who won without a goal from Paul Kariya, Adam Oates or Petr Sykora for the first time since Feb. 7.

If the Ducks had stood in awe while the Red Wings skated circles around them, who would have blamed them? This could go in the acceptable-loss column. But standards are a little higher in Anaheim, even from the start of the season.

“I told our guys if they were going to watch them, let’s do it during warmups,” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said. “When the game starts, that’s our name on the puck.

“When we played them early in the season, they didn’t let us play with the puck, they didn’t even let us touch it. Tonight, we were able to do that.”

More than that, they toyed with the defending Stanley Cup champions.

It was an afternoon of firsts. The first three-point game for Samuel Pahlsson, who had a goal and two assists. The first NHL goal for rookie defenseman Kurt Sauer. And the first time a “Let’s Go Ducks” chant had dominated in a game against Detroit at the Pond.

“It is really important to be able to win when Paul, Petr and Adam don’t score three goals,” Pahlsson said. “We have to be able to win when they don’t have great games.”

There were the usual Duck suspects as well.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 39 of 40 shots, including a Sergei Fedorov breakaway with the Ducks leading, 2-0, in the second period. Steve Rucchin and Kariya overwhelmed Red Wing goalie Curtis Joseph on one rush, with Rucchin coming from behind the net to jam in the puck for a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game.

The Ducks were so slick that they cruised to victory despite the continuing struggles on the power play. They were scoreless in eight tries Sunday and have two goals in their last 50 power plays. The Duck penalty-killing units have as many goals in the last two games, as Pahlsson got loose on a breakaway and scored his third career short-handed goal to give the Ducks a 4-0 lead 18 minutes into the second period.

Pahlsson also assisted on goals by Stanislav Chistov, who charged the net to bat in a rebound for a 2-0 lead 12 minutes into the game, and Sauer, who one-timed a centering pass seven minutes into the third period for a 3-0 lead.

“We had four lines playing tonight,” Kariya said. “It’s always big to get two points, no matter who you are playing. But when you beat Detroit, it is always bigger, especially the way they are playing right now.”

The Ducks were coming off a disappointing loss to Edmonton and are about to embark on a six-games-in-eight-days trip. Another loss could have sent them into a tailspin.

Instead, they remained tied with sixth-place Minnesota in the Western Conference.

“We have a lot of games ahead of us in a short amount of time,” Giguere said. “We didn’t want to go into it feeling down.”

Giguere did his part, the best of which was in the second period when the Duck power play produced its best scoring chance ... for Fedorov. He bore down on Giguere, stick handling his way in, only to have his shot smothered.

“Actually, I thought he scored,” Giguere said. “I waited for the crowd to cheer. It was about 50-50, so it was hard to know who they were cheering for.”

There was little doubt from that point on.