Red Wings vs. Ducks Final Score: Teemu Selanne Lifts Anaheim Past Detroit 3-1
By Josh Hill
Of all the teams in the postseason, the Anaheim Ducks seem to be getting less love than most top seeds. Take for example their first round series against the Detroit Red Wings, a series in which despite being the 2-seed, the Ducks find themselves underdogs to some. But Anaheim helped quiet the critics on Tuesday night by doing what the other two winner of the night couldn’t do — win their game in regulation.
Both the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues needed extra hockey to win their games but the Ducks managed to get things done in regulation, topping Justin Howard and the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 inside the Honda Center in California.
One of the biggest question marks coming into the series for the Ducks was netminder Jonas Hiller, who despite being elite at times, wasn’t having the most consistent of seasons and was actually a cause for some concern in the postseason. But Hiller denied just about everything that came his way Tuesday night, and made some absolutely stunning saves on his way to picking up the win for Anaheim.
A storyline many are following in the series is that of veteran Teemu Selanne, who appears to be on his final journey in the NHL. Selanne broke a 1-1 tie in the third period and ultimately gave the Ducks the game-winning goal they needed to start their series off right against Detroit.
Detroit needed to keep the Ducks in a 5-on-5 matchup, as Anaheim struggled this season to get even-strength goals. Sure enough, both of Anaheim’s first two goals came on the power play while the third came with an empty net for Detroit. That’s something Detroit needs to watch moving forward, as Anaheim is a team that can be contested at even-strength but are dominating on the power play and will knock Detroit around as they please when at an advantage.
Anaheim is a team that isn’t getting all the respect it deserves, but wins like the one they had on Tuesday night are a god way to earn it. This still could be a long series, but the Ducks showed that they can’t be stopped when they’re on the power play, and Detroit needs to play mistake free hockey if they want a chance of making this a real series.