Ducks Make Wings See Red
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are trying make the playoffs, while the Detroit Red Wings are waiting for the postseason curtain to rise.
Goalie Guy Hebert was superb, making 33 saves, and Fredrik Olausson scored twice as the Mighty Ducks defeated the Red Wings 3-1 Sunday night.
"Guy again played a very good game. He was solid," Mighty Ducks coach Craig Hartsburg said.
With Olausson and Paul Kariya providing all the offense on power-play goals, Anaheim registered only its sixth win against the Red Wings in 28 meetings.
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While Detroit is one of three NHL teams to have already clinched a playoff spot, Sunday's victory moved the Mighty Ducks within two points of the San Jose Sharks for the final berth in the Western Conference.
"Beating Detroit is a huge win for us," Hartsburg said. "But we have another huge game Tuesday and we have to get ready for that."
Anaheim visits the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game road trip. Six of the Mighty Ducks' remaining nine games are on the road.
Olausson broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, using assists by Kariya and Teemu Selanne to slap a hard shot into the net from the blue line.
Olausson's second goal of the game gave him his first two-goal game since Feb. 10, 1999, against Philadelphia.
Kariya dg the puck out of a scramble in front of the goal and buried it into the net at 3:46 of the third period. Kariya's 36th goal of the season tied Anaheim's season high of three power-play goals.
"It's important to get power-play goals, but even more important is shutting the other team down," Kariya said.
The Red Wings converted only one of five power-play opportunities.
"And the most important part of penalty killing," Kariya added, "is the goaltending. Guy played well. You can't win without good goaltending."
The Red Wings scored about 10 minutes into the game, with Nicklas Lidstrom making it 1-0 on a power-play goal assisted by Steve Yzerman and Tomas Holmstrom. Lidstrom's 18th goal came on Detroit's 10th consecutive shot at Hebert.
Anaheim drew even a little more than four minutes later on Olausson's point-blank 25-footer past goalie Ken Wregget.
Detroit defenseman Larry Murphy played in his 1,550th game, breaking a tie with Alex Delvecchio to move into second for career games. Only Gordie Howe, with 1,767, has played more NHL games.
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