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Penner's goal in third helps Ducks edge Wild

Apr 12, 2007 - 7:20 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Everyone expected a low-scoring game from the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks. Niklas Backstrom did not expect his team to lose the way it did.

Dustin Penner scored with 5:20 remaining in the third period, snapping a tie and lifting the Ducks to a 2-1 victory over the Wild in the opener of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Teemu Selanne also scored and Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves for Anaheim, which hosts Game Two on Friday.

"When you play well, it gives you more confidence for the preparation of the next game," said Bryzgalov, who was told he was starting over Jean-Sebastien Giguere just before the pregame warmup. "It's the playoffs, and all the marbles are on the floor right now. It was a very difficult game."

"It was a good start for our team, but nothing phenomenal," Selanne added. "They are a tough team to play against. There are going to be a lot of low-scoring games in this series."

With the contest even at 1-1, Penner got a step ahead of defenseman Kim Johnsson on the left side and got off a shot that was stopped by Backstrom. But Johnsson's momentum carried him into Backstrom, who was knocked into his own net.

As the Finnish netminder lay on the ice, the puck was loose at the top of the crease. After Corey Perry failed on an attempt to jab it in, Penner succeeded, giving the Ducks a 2-1 edge.

"I yelled for it," Penner said. "(Perry) tried to get a shot off, he took a couple of whacks at it. I was just there so that if the puck didn't go in, I could be there to pick up the loose change."

"We just kept banging away and Penns finally put it in the net," Perry added. "(Backstrom) was just lying on the goal line waiting for someone to hit it. It was under his leg for a minute and I hit it. It squeaked out and just laid there for Penns."

Backstrom believed a whistle should have blown the play dead before the goal was scored.

"That's a goal that shouldn't be on the board," he said. "I watched the replay and I was sure it was under me and nobody saw the puck. Of course you're going to get the puck out from a goalie if you slash at it with your sticks.

"I stopped the first shot and fell on my back after that. I could feel it under my pads. Then, I don't know who it was, put his stick under my pads and took the puck out. ... If you watch the replay, I couldn't see the puck. I don't know if anybody else could see it. It's a tough way to lose a game with a goal like that."

Penner did not agree.

"The referee was right there, in great position," he said. "He saw that the puck was still loose."

Pavol Demitra tallied for Minnesota, which was outshot, 12-6, in the third period.

"We did really well, but there is no doubt that that team is bigger, they're more aggressive," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "But we battled with them. You know with a team like this, they have such a great team on defense (that) we'll have to bear down on chances we get. They're good with the puck, they are good defensively. They're not giving a lot of chances."

After scoring just one goal in the 2003 conference finals series against the Ducks, the Wild matched that total six minutes into the second period of this one. Less than two minutes after Backstrom denied Selanne during a 2-on-none rush, Demitra beat Bryzgalov high to the glove side with a wrist shot from the top of the slot for his 19th career playoff tally and a 1-0 lead.

"It's just a shot I put on the net and it finally went in," Demitra said. "It was a good play. It was like 4-on-2 or 4-on-3 and (defenseman Kurtis) Foster gave me a good pass and I just tried to shoot it as hard as I can."

But Selanne managed to convert a short breakaway at 9:52 of the session, slipping the puck between the pads of Backstrom for his 25th postseason goal.

"It was a great pass by (defenseman Francois) Beauchemin," Selanne said. "Then, I got a race with their defenseman (Nick Schultz). It was a good play to put the puck in. I know (Backstrom) pretty well, and he knows me, too."

Minnesota nearly moved ahead with just under two minutes to go in the second, but Marian Gaborik's chip shot after splitting a pair of defenders hit the left goalpost.

Backstrom, who made 32 saves, kept the game scoreless with a left pad save on defenseman Scott Niedermayer during a breakaway with 14 minutes left in the first period.

"He's played great for us all year," Demitra said of Backstrom, who led the league in goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.929) during the regular season. "He played great tonight. He stopped a lot of shots and he stopped a couple of breakaways. That's what he's got to be doing."

The Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 2003, Giguere served as Bryzgalov's backup after missing the last three regular-season games due to a non-life-threatening medical condition with his son.

"We felt that with the emotional roller-coaster Giguere has been on, it was more beneficial to let him get his feet underneath him," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "With the good news he received yesterday about his son, we felt it would be best if he backed up tonight. Now we have both goaltenders available after three days of work."