Selanne helps Ducks even series with Red Wings
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Teemu Selanne snapped out of his scoring slump with a goal and two assists Thursday night and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-3 to even their playoff series. The Ducks tied the Western Conference finals 2-2, with the best-of-seven series shifting to Detroit for Game 5 on Sunday.
The Ducks built a 3-1 lead in the opening period, lost it in the second, then Ryan Getzlaf scored on a power play with 14:36 remaining to put them ahead to stay. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made that lead hold up, finishing with 36 saves.
Corey Perry, Ric Jackman and Selanne had first-period goals as the Ducks scored three times on their first eight shots against Dominik Hasek, who faced 22 shots.
Rob Niedermayer capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:08 remaining.
Daniel Cleary had two goals and an assist against the Ducks, who won despite the absence of defenseman Chris Pronger, serving a one-game suspension for a blow to the head of Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3. Pronger’s 12 points lead Anaheim in the postseason, and he’s a finalist for his second Norris Trophy.
Jackman helped fill in for Pronger and scored on his first shot of his initial appearance in a playoff game, making it 2-1 in the opening period.
Selanne’s goal was his first in five games and followed his assist on Jackman’s goal, Selanne’s first assist in four games.
Getzlaf beat Hasek with a 40-foot wrist shot. Anaheim’s Todd Marchant screened the goalie on the play, which came with Cleary off for tripping Ducks defenseman Kent Huskins.
Anaheim had gone 0-for-16 on the power play during the first three games of the series and 0-for-31 over the previous five games combined. The Ducks finished the game 2-for-5 with a man advantage.
Cleary drew the Red Wings even with his second goal of the game, poking the puck under the prone Giguere’s lower legs during a scramble in front of the net late in the second period.
Todd Bertuzzi’s pass from behind the goal line set up the power-play goal, Cleary’s fifth of the postseason. Bertuzzi had pulled Detroit within 3-2 earlier in the period with his third goal of the playoffs.
Selanne had made it 3-1 with his goal 18:31 in. Anaheim’s scoring leader during the regular season was just right of the crease when he knocked the bouncing puck past Hasek on the glove side.
The goal was his fourth of this year’s playoffs.
Jackman beat Hasek on a power play with a slap shot down the slot.
Oddly, each team scored on its first shot of the game.
Perry gave Anaheim a short-lived lead just 1:37 after the opening faceoff. It took Cleary less than two minutes to tie it.
Perry’s goal was unassisted. He intercepted Bertuzzi’s clearing pass, took a few strides into the right circle and beat Hasek with a slap shot to the stick side, Perry’s third score of the playoffs.
Chris Chelios set up the first Detroit goal with a pass across the crease that Cleary tapped in.
NOTES: The Red Wings won the opening game 2-1 in Detroit, the Ducks took the second 4-3 in overtime, also in Detroit. The Red Wings won the third game 5-0 in Anaheim, the Ducks’ most lopsided playoff loss ever. … The last time Hasek gave up as many as three goals in one period of a playoff game was in 1999.