Ducks Play It Close but Lose

It had all the appearances of a playoff game. Tight checking. Minimal scoring chances. Physical battles along the boards and in front of the net.

The Detroit Red Wings’ hard-fought 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night might have offered a sample of what could happen in late April.

With its 45-15-5 record and league-best 95 points, Detroit holds the top seeding in the Western Conference. The Ducks, who tied Edmonton for eighth place Sunday, couldn’t keep pace but are only two points behind the Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.

If the Ducks (31-21-12) squeak into the eighth and final playoff spot in the next five weeks, it would probably take them on a familiar road, having faced the Red Wings in the 1997, 1999 and 2003 postseasons.

“They’ll be a difficult opponent if we end up meeting them,” Detroit goalie Chris Osgood said.

The Red Wings claimed three of the four meetings this season, but no game was decided by more than two goals. On Wednesday, the evenly played contest remained in doubt until Kris Draper’s empty-net goal with 9.1 seconds remaining.

Henrik Zetterberg scored on Detroit’s first shot and Mathieu Schneider added a first-period goal as the Red Wings used a familiar formula against the Ducks -- jump out early and then use their defense to clear out traffic in front of Osgood.

Osgood, who shut out the Ducks two weeks ago in a 2-0 win, made 25 saves.

“They have a lot of experience and they know what it takes to win,” Duck goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “Once they get the lead, it’s really hard to come back.”

Zetterberg put the Ducks on their heels after only one minute of play. The Swede made a sharp cut to cause Jeff Friesen to fall down and then used the open space to fire a wrist shot by Giguere’s right pad just inside the left post.

“I think it was a great shot,” said Giguere, who made 26 saves. “I’d like to see [on the video] if my body was square or not.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t want to give up a goal on the first shot. It will happen sometimes, but that’s not the start you’re looking for.”

With Todd Marchant already serving a hooking penalty, the Ducks committed a costly error when newly acquired defenseman Sean O’Donnell mistakenly flipped the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty.

Schneider, whose career-high 21 goals are the most in the NHL by a defenseman, took advantage of the five-on-three situation at 10:45 of the first when he ripped a slap shot over Giguere’s right shoulder.

“We didn’t have a very good start, that’s for sure,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “It was one of those games where they were better than we were early, by far.”

The Ducks showed resiliency, responding with a power-play goal by Teemu Selanne off a feed by Scott Niedermayer, who upped his Duck single-season record for assists by a defenseman to 42.

The Ducks carried the play for much of the second period and at times in the third but never got the equalizer. The best chance came with less than seven minutes left as Marchant and Jonathan Hedstrom were in front of the net but couldn’t get the stick on a rebound.

“It’s kind of always the way against this team,” Marchant said. “You’re going to get your opportunity, but they really do a good job of not letting you get second and third opportunities.

“Again, that was an opportunity where you’d get your chance and if you had that extra half-second where you can find the puck and make a play on it, it might be in the net.”

Carlyle said the slow start doomed their chances.

“We didn’t play 60 minutes,” he said. “We played about 50 minutes. It’s not that we didn’t try. We were frustrated by our lack of execution.”