Anaheim 2, Detroit 1, OT Seconds turn into hours. And hours turn into days. Days of thinking about what might have been. Of what was only seconds away from being a dream, turned into a nightmare for the Detroit Red Wings.
With 47.3 seconds left in regulation, The Anaheim Ducks’ Scott Niedermayer’s deflected shot fluttered over Dominik Hasek’s glove on a power play to tie the game at 1 all and force overtime. Then in overtime, a turnover by defenseman Andreas Lilja led to the winning goal by Ducks forward Teemu Selanne at 11:57, and the Ducks won, 2-1. The Wings went from possible going up 3-2 in this series to being down by the same score and facing elimination in Game 6 Tuesday night in Anaheim.
Hasek and the Ducks’ Jean-Sebastien Giguere were keeping the game tight and scoreless into the third period. Detroit controlled the puck and play for much of regulation, leading to Hasek facing just 18 shots after three periods. He finished with 24 saves. Giguere was much busier, keeping the Ducks in the game with 33 saves in regulation and finishing with 36 stops.
The Red Wings’ Andreas Lilja’s first playoff goal at 6:13 of the third, put the home team in front and it seemed it would stay that way. “They’re carrying the play, but it was only 1-0,” Ducks center Todd Marchant said of Detroit’s lead. “Jiggy played unbelievable for us. As a result, he kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win.
The crowd was rocking, expecting a victory and then it all started to unravel. At 18:13, Pavel Datsyuk went off for interference, leaving the Ducks with the final 1:47 to play with an advantage.
Giguere went to the bench and his teammates went to work with two extra attackers. Chris Pronger got the puck along the left side and dropped it down low to Selanne who spotted Niedermayer in the slot. Niedermayer caught the puck with his right skate and shifted it to his shooting side.
Niedermayer’s shot was lifted off the ice by the stick of fellow Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom as the Detroit defenseman tried to block it. Hasek didn’t seem to see the puck until it was already in the net. “I didn’t think about the series at that point,” Niedermayer said. “I’m just thinking about scoring a goal. That’s what I think most of us are thinking. Just try to get a goal here to tie it up and go from there.”
Stunned, the Wings went into overtime only for things to get worse. With renewed energy, the Ducks took the offensive in overtime and forced a crucial mistake by Lilja.
The defenseman barely escaped a speeding Selanne behind the net, but McDonald cut off Lilja as he headed up ice. Selanne jumped on the turnover and faked Hasek to the ice with a move before flipping a backhand shot top shelf on only his second shot of the game.
“You’ve just got to take advantage of the opportunities when you get the chance,” McDonald said. “When Teemu gets that opportunity, he usually buries it.”
“In the end, we found a way to get it done,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “There’s been no quitting in this group whatsoever, right from the beginning early in September [during] training camp, right through to tonight.”
And they kept playing, up until the last second.
