DUCKS NIP RED WINGS IN TRIPLE OVERTIME THRILLER

Todd Marchant’s goal at 1:15 of the third overtime period broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena on Sunday.  The Ducks’ victory evened the best of seven Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece, with the next two games slated for Anaheim’s Honda Center home ice. 

The contest started with an offensive bang, as the teams combined for four first period goals.  Detroit got the scoring started with Brad Stuart’s power play goal assisted by Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler at the six minute mark of the opening frame.  The Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf tied the game at 8:16 with his goal assisted by Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan.  Just 34 seconds later, Getzlaf would join Perry in assisting on Chris Pronger’s goal to give Anaheim a 2-1 lead.  Detroit’s Mikael Samuelsson would cap the first period scoring at the 13:54 mark set up by Valtteri Filppula and Brett Lebda.

In contrast to the explosive first period, the next two were characterized by tight checking and defense.  The Ducks’ Ryan Carter would score the only goal of the second period at 4:42 on the power play assisted by Scott Niedermayer and Ryan Getzlaf to give Anaheim a 3-2 lead.  Detroit’s Johan Franzen would answer at 5:19 of the third period to tie the game at 3-3 with his goal assisted by Henrik Zetterberg and Daniel Cleary. 

The star of the overtime was clearly Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller, who stopped 29 Detroit shots during the extra sessions to give him a staggering 59 saves for the game.  His hard work was reciprocated by the Ducks’ offense when  Todd Marchant’s wrist shot in traffic beat a screen Red Wings’ goalie Chris Osgood for the victory at 1:15 of the third overtime.  Afterwards, Red Wings’ coach Mike Babcock lamented:

"There were chances to win the game. And, we didn't do it."

With Detroit outshooting Anaheim 29-17 in the 41+ minutes of overtime hockey, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.  Their efforts were foiled by Hiller, who has been a revelation for the Ducks during their playoff run.  The Swiss native is playing in his first NHL postseason—and had never before played in a double OT game:

"I've never gone to double overtime before. We have shootouts at home."

Thanks to Hiller’s excellence and Marchant’s timely game winner, the Ducks were able to head home having achieved what they wanted to in Detroit according to Anaheim forward Corey Perry:

"We had to go back to Anaheim tied. That was our goal. Anything can happen."

The Red Wings lost for the first time in the postseason, having swept Columbus in the opening round.  Coach Mike Babcock said that his team didn’t expect to go undefeated throughout the playoffs:

"I don't think anybody came into this series thinking there would be a sweep. Or, that it would be easy."

Since 2003, the Ducks have thrived in playoff overtime games.  Sunday’s victory ran Anaheim’s postseason overtime record since 2003 to an impressive 14-3. It’s a good thing they’ve done so well in OT, since the 17 games beyond regulation are the most by any NHL team during that span.

After games three and four at the Honda Center on Tuesday and Thursday, the series will return to Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena for game five on Sunday.  Should they be necessary, game six would take place back at the Honda Center on Tuesday, 5/12 and a decisive game 7 in Detroit on Thursday 5/14.