Ducks Enjoy a Weird Thrill

Bizarre is a good starting point.

Mighty Duck center Sergei Fedorov had two goals ... and was booed

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up six goals ... and was brilliant.

The Detroit Red Wings are the best team in the NHL ... the Ducks aren’t.

Yet, it was the Ducks who were whooping it up after an 8-6 victory Sunday in an I-want-it-no-you-take-it game in front of a heavy Red Wing crowd of 17,174.

“That was ‘80s hockey,” said Duck Coach Mike Babcock, whose team trailed, 3-0, 6 minutes 31 seconds into the game. “I wouldn’t want to play like that very darn often.

“Anytime you’re down three-cob and come back it’s great. Anytime you score goals like that it’s great. Yet, obviously, that was unreal.”

And sometimes surreal. The Ducks scored five goals in a span of 10:04 -- a team record -- during the first and second periods to take a 5-3 lead. A total momentum swing. Yet they trailed, 6-5, in the third period before Vitaly Vishnevski tied the score.

Fedorov, the former Red Wing, then crashed at the right post and chipped in the puck for a 7-6 lead 8:01 into the third period.

“It was like we were playing the first one to 10 wins and we almost got there,” said center Steve Rucchin, whose empty-net goal with 14 seconds left finally decided matters.

“Those kind of games are fun. It’s still pretty ugly and it’s tough to walk away with a real sense of achievement when you give up so many goals.”

Fedorov and Giguere could. But then, they endured a lot more.

Giguere had it easier. All he had to do was face 57 shots -- the most against a Duck goalie in a regular-season game. He made 51 saves -- tying a Duck record for a regular-season game. During one power play, Giguere made seven saves, all on quality scoring chances.

“It’s a pretty funny thing, and you don’t see too many games like this,” Rucchin said. “Your goalie gives up six goals, but he played outstanding. I was glad we were able get J.S. the win.”

It may have been a pretty funny thing, but Giguere wasn’t laughing.

“We want to be happy because we got the win,” Giguere said. “In hockey, that’s the only thing that counts. But can we really be happy with this game? We clearly are lost in our own zone. There is no excuse for that in game 76 [of the season]. We should all know what to do in our own zone.”

Fedorov had more to deal with than a leaky defense. The usual large turnout of Red Wing fans made their feelings about Fedorov coming to the Ducks clear. He was booed every time he touched the puck.

Fedorov declined to comment about it at first, then relented.

“Whatever, fine, write whatever you want,” Fedorov said. “It’s been like that. You can’t get away from it when you are playing against your former team. I don’t take anything personally.”

Still ...

“I just had lunch with four Red Wings fans and they said ‘We miss you in Detroit,’ and then they come to the game and boo me,” Fedorov said. “I guess it’s the style now.”

Fedorov didn’t get mad, he got his new team even, or rather put them ahead.

He assisted on Joffrey Lupul’s power-play goal for the Ducks’ first goal. With the score tied, Fedorov crashed the net and chipped a Rob Niedermayer pass for a 4-3 lead 2:36 into the second period.

“When you freewheel in a game like that, he’s the master of freewheeling,” Red Wing Coach Dave Lewis said.

All part of game that was difficult for all to digest.

Said Lewis: “Bizarre is the only way to put it.”