Ducks Won’t Be Denied

No question, the Mighty Ducks presented a mixed bag to an announced crowd of 12,943 at the Arrowhead Pond. They gave away goals, but got them right back. Their power play was electric, clicking three times, but their penalty-killing unit suffered a key letdown in the second period.

In the end, a 4-4 tie Friday against the troublesome Calgary Flames probably was as good as the Ducks could have hoped for given the holes they kept digging for themselves.

Certainly, any point gained without captain Paul Kariya in the lineup is a good one. Kariya was sidelined for the eighth game because of a broken right foot. The Ducks also played without Steve Rucchin (dizziness) and Mike Leclerc (sore right knee).

However, there were positive signs all around the Pond after the Ducks gained a point by rallying from a third-period deficit for the second consecutive game. The Ducks rallied with two third-period goals and Petr Tenkrat’s overtime winner for a 3-2 victory Wednesday against the Florida Panthers.

Friday, Teemu Selanne’s second goal of the game enabled the Ducks to rally for a 4-all tie with 8:06 left in the third period. It was Selanne’s 74th multiple goal game of his career, but remarkably, his first this season.

“It sounds weird to say that,” Coach Guy Charron said. “He’s working and he’s using his speed. He creates opportunities like on that last goal. It’s difficult for defenders to stop him when he’s skating aggressively away from the puck.”

Selanne rocketed away from the pack to accept Marty McInnis’ breakout pass off the boards in the third period. Calgary defenseman Derek Morris turned the wrong way on the play and Selanne had the step he needed on the pack.

Selanne raced ahead and delivered a hip-level backhander that slipped past Calgary goaltender Fred Brathwaite on the stick side.

“Teemu was going about 100 mph through the middle [of the ice] and made an unbelievable move on the goalie,” McInnis said. “I don’t know if anybody else in the league could have made that move.”

Selanne also scored a power-play goal that tied the score, 3-3, midway through the second period. McInnis assisted on that goal and scored two power-play goals for his first career four-point game.

“Paul is a huge part of our team,” McInnis said when asked about Kariya’s absence. “Without him we all have to chip in.”

Until Wednesday’s victory over Florida, it seemed the Ducks were incapable of hitting water if they fell from the end of the Huntington Beach Pier. But Selanne ended a career-long 14-game goal drought with a third-period power-play goal Wednesday, the first of a club-record four consecutive power-play conversions.

“There’s a lot of reasons for that,” Selanne said when asked about regaining his scoring touch. “The first thing is I’m healthy and 100% [after a nagging groin injury slowed him for most of December].”

Asked about his drought, Selanne said: “I still had chances and shots, but couldn’t score. I was thinking, ‘What should I do different?’ I talked with Paul when we came back from the road trip [last week]. Sometimes you can’t see how you’re playing and things you’re doing. He saw some things.”

The Ducks rallied from a 1-0 deficit to build a 2-1 lead, but then trailed by scores of 3-2 and 4-3 before Selanne scored to erase both deficits.

Winger Dave Lowry scored twice for Calgary, which is 8-2-2 in its last 12 games.

When Calgary’s Valeri Bure scored a power-play goal 6:55 into the second period, the Ducks seemed ripe for the taking. Bure deked Duck defenseman Jason Marshall to the ice on the play, then had goalie Guy Hebert at his mercy before lifting a backhander past him for a 3-2 Flame lead.

Selanne got the Ducks even at 3-all, then countered Lowry’s second goal of the game 41 seconds into the third period with his second of the game at 11:54.

Brathwaite kicked away Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei’s missile from the right point in the closing moments of the five-minute overtime period, the best chance for either team.