Sharks hold off Ducks to keep hopes alive, 3-2

San Jose Coach Ron Wilson did everything he could Wednesday night to give the Sharks a chance to steal the Pacific Division title from the team he once led.

The Ducks had an apparent power play for the start of overtime that Teemu Selanne created with his stickhandling. But it was Selanne’s stick that Wilson paid close attention to and the coach nabbed his former player in the act.

Selanne was called for using an illegal stick, which nullified the four-on-three advantage. The Ducks couldn’t score in overtime and San Jose put in both of its tries in the shootout to get a 3-2 victory at Honda Center.

The Ducks (47-20-13) saw their three-game winning streak end. Anaheim still controls its fate, needing two points over its final two games to clinch the division. The Ducks lead second-place San Jose by three points and third-place Dallas by four.

A victory Friday in Dallas would give the Ducks their first division title.

“We want to win the division,” Ducks defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “We still can. We got a point tonight. We’d like to go in and win Friday in Dallas and not have to make that game [Saturday] against Columbus a must win.”

Wilson, who coached Selanne while leading the Ducks in their first four seasons, said he noticed the stick during the game and had to make the call with his defenseman, Craig Rivet, in the penalty box for hooking Selanne in the final minute of regulation.

“To be perfectly honest with you, we had an inkling that his stick might be too wide,” Wilson said. “When you look at it, it’s almost the width of a goalie’s stick. I was just rolling the dice.

“If I was wrong, it’s five on three and it’s game over. If you don’t make the call, it’s four on three and it’s probably over anyway. Four on three with that group, it’s going to be in the net. So I rolled the dice and it worked.”

Said San Jose winger Jonathan Cheechoo: “We already had one point. If we could even the score a little bit, why not?”

Selanne said he was surprised by Wilson’s maneuver. He acknowledged the illegality but also blamed the poor ice surface.

“It might be a little wide. But there’s a reason why it’s wide. That’s because the NHL makes great ice and you need a stick this wide to receive a pass in this league,” Selanne said sarcastically.

As he said that, Selanne held his hands a foot apart. Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle sought to shift the blame away from his star winger.

“It’s my responsibility,” Carlyle said. “That’s my fault. I have to make sure that those things are not an issue and they were an issue tonight. I have to make sure and reinforce that and go to the point where all the sticks are measured. I’ll accept the responsibility. It might have cost us a point, it might not have.”

In the shootout, Ryan Getzlaf scored first for the Ducks, but Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 29 saves in regulation and overtime, couldn’t stop the first two San Jose tries by Cheechoo and Ryane Clowe.

Meanwhile, Selanne and Andy McDonald couldn’t get their shots off and the Ducks would have to settle for edging one point closer. San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov made 37 saves, including six in overtime.

“We had a number of great scoring chances in the third and in overtime to get the win,” Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said. “But it’s 50-50 in the shootout and they were fortunate enough to score twice in that.”

As crisp as the Ducks were in a dominant first period that gave them a 2-0 lead on goals by McDonald and Scott Niedermayer, they were just as bad in the second. The Sharks forged a tie on goals by Scott Hannan and Steve Bernier.

eric.stephens@latimes.com