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Ducks end regular-season struggles at Joe Louis

Feb 11, 2008 - 12:50 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks have been able to win in Detroit during the playoffs, but until Sunday they had come up short during the regular season.

Defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Kent Huskins both scored a second-period goal to lift the Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Red Wings, ended a 10-game regular-season winless streak at Joe Louis Arena.

Since its last victory in Detroit on March 19, 2002, Anaheim had gone 0-8-0 with two ties at Joe Louis Arena. It has been a different story in the postseason as the Ducks are 4-1 here since the start of the 2003 playoffs, eliminating the Red Wings in both 2003 and 2007.

However, the win did come with some controversy, as a potential tying goal by Nicklas Lidstrom with 40 seconds remaining was waved off due to Tomas Holmstrom's incidental contact with goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"It was a tough call. A lot of times they don't call that," Giguere said. "It took a lot of guts to call that. The replay showed he had his skate in the crease and he was preventing me from what I've got to do. It's not a popular call, except with the goalies, but it was the right one."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was wary of talking about the call because of a potential fine from the NHL office.

"My thought is there's no sense discussing it," he said.

Detroit goalie Chris Osgood wasn't afraid to offer his opinion.

"For some reason, we seem to end up on the short end of the stick on those sometimes. I'm not sure why," Osgood said. "Maybe it's because of Homer's (Holmstrom) reputation for being in front of the net. By no means was he in the crease or threatening the goalie's movement. It was kind of a weird call.

"We just want it played both ways. Homer was standing his ground. He was in his position before Nick (Lidstrom) had even taken the shot. It was just one of those where you shake your head. It was 100 percent a goal. It's not even debatable really. As a goalie, you don't mind if guys fight for the puck. But you can't get bodychecked or a knee in the head in the crease to jar it loose."

That questionable call led to a scrum in the closing seconds, as the Red Wings' Johan Franzen and Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger got tangled up, leading to a number of players to rush in. Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin was whistled for a roughing penalty on the play.

Schneider, who played just over three seasons with the Red Wings before signing with Anaheim as a free agent last summer, gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 8:28 of the second period on a shot that deflected off Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski.

Schneider said that a rivalry developed when the teams met in last year's Western Conference final, which the Ducks won in six games.

"That kicked it up a notch," said Schneider, who missed the series with a broken wrist. "Both teams have a high skill level. This helps set the stage for another playoff series. If we want to get to the Finals, Detroit is going to be in our path."

Defenseman Kent Huskins later supplied the Ducks a two-goal cushion less than seven minutes later when he went around Detroit's Brett Lebda and came in alone on Osgood.

"I got some momentum going through the zone," Huskins said. "I scored a few goals like that in the AHL (American Hockey League), but here it's a matter of knowing your role. But now if I see an opening I can go to the net.

"This time of year it becomes more of a team game. They need contributions from everybody."

Detroit cut the lead to 3-2 with a power-play goal from Franzen at 6:07 of the third period. He took a pass from Jiri Hudler and backhanded a shot over the left shoulder of Giguere.

Midway through the period, Giguere helped preserved the win with a pad save on Tomas Kopecky's shot from close range.

Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring with a power-play goal with 5:44 left in the first period. Datsyuk deflected Lidstrom's shot from the right point past Giguere.

The Ducks tied the game 3 1/2 minutes later on Ryan Carter's third goal in two games. Rob Niedermayer passed from behind the net to Carter, who jammed the puck past Osgood from the edge of the crease.

"Every night when we play a good team, we're going to get challenged in a different way," Babcock said. "Tonight, Anaheim challenged us physically."

Osgood had 19 saves for the Red Wings, who absorbed their third straight loss.