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Hudler lifts Red Wings over Ducks in shootout

Oct 4, 2007 - 3:13 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Jiri Hudler allowed the Detroit Red Wings to exact a measure of revenge on Wednesday.

Hudler's goal in the third round of the shootout stood up as the winner, giving the Red Wings a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals.

The Ducks bounced the Red Wings in the postseason en route to defeating the Ottawa Senators in five games for the Stanley Cup.

Hudler had a plan in mind before taking his shot against goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

"I tried to not lose the puck through the hash marks. Then I just faked the shot," Hudler said. "I played against Bryzgalov a lot of times, so he probably thought I'm going to go high glove. But I just faked it this time, and it worked."

Detroit coach Mike Babcock had faith in Hudler's ability to produce.

"This year, he's a more confident player," Babcock said. "He's gifted. He's one of these players that can turn around and put the puck in the net. That's what he has to do for us. He has to score."

Following Hudler's tally, Corey Perry had a chance to respond for Anaheim. But goaltender Dominik Hasek squelched the chance by flopping to the ice before Perry could register a shot.

Although Detroit owned a 42-15 advantage in shots, including an 8-0 edge in overtime, the Red Wings could not put away the pesky Ducks.

Most notably giving Detroit some trouble was former mate Todd Bertuzzi, who had a goal and an assist.

Bertuzzi, who is playing in his 12th NHL season but first with Anaheim, scored the Ducks' first goal with 5:28 remaining in the second period. He collected a loose puck that ricocheted off Detroit defenseman Andreas Lilja's skate and beat Hasek for his 227th career goal.

"I'm getting there," said Bertuzzi, who missed the majority of the 2006-07 season recovering from back surgery. "Obviously, it takes a little bit of time."

With 42 seconds remaining in the period, Bertuzzi fed Ryan Getzlaf with a backhand pass on the doorstep during a four-minute power play. Getzlaf, who was a major contributor during the team's playoff run last season, banged home the puck to give Anaheim a 2-1 lead.

Detroit countered in the third period on the power play. Defenseman Brian Rafalski's blast from the blue line bounced off the boards directly behind Bryzgalov. Henrik Zetterberg's attempt at a rebound trickled to Tomas Holmstrom, who banged home the puck to tie the game at 2-2.

Zetterberg opened the scoring midway through the first period, firing a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Bryzgalov at 9:46.

Bryzgalov, who surrendered three goals on 23 shots in Saturday's season-opening 4-1 setback to Los Angeles in London on Saturday, stopped 40 shots in this one.

"We only played 10-15 minutes of the kind of hockey we need to play to win, but our goalie gave us a chance," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.

Anaheim's traditional starter, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, still is recovering from sports hernia surgery.

"He's starting to take shots now, but we really don't have a timetable," Carlyle said.

Hasek, 42, kicked off his 16th NHL season by making 13 saves for the Red Wings.

"I wasn't very busy today," Hasek said. "I had to make a few saves on the power play. ... We worked hard through all 65 minutes. We could (have won in) the overtime, but we found a way to win in the shootout."