Ducks Equal to Devil Challenge

This is why they pay Sergei Fedorov the big bucks.

The Mighty Ducks were staring at a painful reminder of what it is like to play the New Jersey Devils, an experience they lived one game too many during the Stanley Cup finals last season.

Fedorov bailed them out. His power play goal with 1 minute 49 seconds left tied the score and led to a 3-3 tie Wednesday night. So what if there was no exalted moment of victory for the Ducks, merely a sigh of relief. They got through an entire overtime period.

The Ducks blew a 2-1 third-period lead, then rallied, then nearly pulled out the victory in front of 16,472 at the Arrowhead Pond, who saw a rollicking, high-octane-pressure game that matched the intensity of last spring.

What they didn’t see was the Ducks lose in overtime, which has been a far-too-often occurrence this season.

Fedorov made sure that the Ducks got to overtime, as he was involved in all three goals, scoring two and assisting on another. He nearly won the game in overtime with a one-timer that goaltender Martin Brodeur managed to snag.

If there was anything big to be made out of a tie, it was that Fedorov had another night that the Ducks hope he can build on. It was his third two-goal game of the season, yet he has only one goal in the team’s other 20 games.

“Obviously that was great to see from Sergei,” said Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who gave up three freakish goals. “That’s what he’s been known for, scoring big goals.”

What Fedorov also has known, through his 13 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, was the type of atmosphere that hung heavy in the Pond on Wednesday.

The Ducks and Devils hammered on each through the Cup finals, with the Devils winning in seven games. They matched that intensity, if not the play.

Yet the path away from that Game 7 has taken them in different directions.

The Devils came to town rolling, with a 10-0-2 record in their last 12 games, including Tuesday’s 4-0 romp over the Kings. They came into the game ready to celebrate Scott Stevens’ setting the NHL record for games played by a defenseman at 1,616.

The Ducks, meanwhile, have meandered through the season, going overtime in seven of their last nine games and losing four of those. They have stuck around first place mainly because the Pacific Division has been more a Pacifists Division thus far.

“We needed to win tonight and we played a hot team,” team captain Steve Rucchin said. “We got complacent.... You see spurts of good hockey, but we kept giving the puck to New Jersey.”

Still, Rucchin said, “It was a big point.”

It is one that can be laid at Fedorov’s skates.

Andy McDonald made a slick centering pass and Fedorov buried the shot for a power-play goal that tied the score. Until that point, the Ducks were scoreless on six power plays.

“Rhythm, that’s the name of the game for me,” Fedorov said.

“Overtime loss” has been the Ducks’ moniker lately and they nearly let this one get away as well.

Sergei Brylin put the puck into the net a minute into overtime, but replays clearly showed that he bent it like Beckham, kicking the puck into the net.

Fedorov assisted on Petr Sykora’s first-period goal that tied the score. Fedorov then gave the Ducks the lead.

In the second period, he swooped into the Devil zone and left a drop pass for Keith Carney, whose shot was stopped by Brodeur. The ricochet went straight to Fedorov, who calmly chipped the puck into an open net.