Ducks even series with Red Wings
DETROIT: Scott Niedermayer scored in overtime to give the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday and tie the Western Conference Finals at 1-1.
Niedermayer's goal, the second of the playoffs for the veteran defender, came after an assist by his younger brother, center Rob Niedermayer, who also scored the first goal of the game.
"He just chipped it back to me, and I didn't really have anyone on me," Scott Niedermayer said of the game-winner. "I had time to make the shot."
The Ducks outshot the Wings for the second time in as many games, with 33 shots on Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek against 27 on Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
But in a series defined so far by quirky bounces and ugly goals, the big breaks also went to Anaheim.
Two of the Ducks' goals came only after officials had reviewed replays of the action in the net.
The first gave Anaheim a 2-1 lead when the replay showed Ducks center Andy McDonald had slipped the puck past Chris Chelios after the Wings defender dropped to his knees in an attempt to help Hasek.
Then the Ducks tied the game at 3-3 in the third period when Hasek went prone headfirst in the net in one of his signature, scrambling save attempts after a shot by Travis Moen. The replay showed the puck emerging on Hasek's left hip just past the blue ice.
The Red Wings battled back to tie the game at 1-1 a short-handed goal by Kirk Maltby in the second period.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk also scored for the Wings.
The best-of-seven series moves to the Honda Center in Anaheim for Game Three on Tuesday.
Agencies
(China Daily 05/15/2007 page24)
