Penalized Pair Withhold Criticism

Duck defensemen Ruslan Salei and Niclas Havelid were politically correct after the Mighty Ducks’ 4-3 loss to Boston on Sunday.

The Ducks had had three power plays late in the third period and the Bruins none when Salei was sent off for boarding Joe Thornton 15 minutes 8 seconds into the third period. That Bruin power play was negated when Nick Boynton jumped Salei and received an instigator penalty, a fighting penalty and a misconduct penalty.

But eight seconds later, Havelid was called for hooking. The Bruins’ converted that into a power-play goal that tied the score, 3-3.

As to whether he was sure the Bruins would get a power play, Salei said, “There’s nothing to talk about. It just happened in the game. There was stuff going on before they didn’t call that. I have nothing [to] say about [it]. You can’t talk about the referees.”

Said Havelid: “He called it. If he calls it, it’s a penalty.”

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Three banners dangle from the rafters at the Arrowhead Pond, although they are disproportionate in meaning.

There is the Western Conference championship banner, earned on the ice last spring.

There is the 1993-94 inaugural season banner, earned for not calling it quits after a 7-2 loss to Detroit in the first Duck game ever.

There is the 2002-03 Mighty Decade banner, put up after the Ducks had played only nine seasons.

The first was raised before a sellout crowd before the Ducks’ home opener last Sunday. The other two were put up out of sight of fans.

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The Ducks scored on two of three power plays Sunday. They had one goal in 16 power plays in the four previous games.... Sergei Fedorov’s two assists Sunday were his first points as a Duck.