ANAHEIM, California -- The Detroit Red Wings completed their three-game West Coast road trip undefeated Wednesday night, holding off a comeback by the Anaheim Ducks to earn a 2-1 win in their last game before the All-Star Break.
Detroit stood up to punishing physical play from the Ducks early and scored the first goal to get out to an important lead.
Thirteen penalties had already been called before Brian Rafalski scored with 8:08 left in the first period, including a pair of fighting majors when Chris Pronger and Dan Cleary dropped the gloves.
Rafalski's goal came with the Red Wings on a five-on-three. His blast from the top of the left circle was deflected by Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and into the net.
Valtteri Filppula put the Red Wings up by a pair at 7:52 of the second period.
Francois Beauchemin broke his stick on a clearing attempt from the Anaheim zone. Filppula picked off the pass and was in alone on Beauchemin but waited for Tomas Kopecky to catch up, working the give-and-go with Kopecky to pull Giguere to one side of the net and put the puck in the open side.
The Ducks tried to mount a comeback in the third period, with Pronger scoring a power play goal on a blast from the point through a screen by former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi at 8:05.
It wouldn't be enough for Anaheim, as Dominik Hasek shut the door, including several key stops in the game's final minutes.
Hasek finished the night with 24 saves on 25 shots. Giguere stopped 31 of 33 shots he faced.
Both teams went one-for-five on the power play.
Notes: The Red Wings were without Henrik Zetterberg for the second-straight game... Dan Cleary left the game with swelling around the eye after his fight with Chris Pronger.
Coming off the win last night their are lineup changes tonight. Hasek gets the start and Chelios is back in, which means Meech is out.
This marks former Red Wing Mathieu Schneider's first game as a Duck against Detroit. He was injured for the first two matchups this season.
): How sad. I miss our dear old friend.
Oh well, let's let the Wings kick some assets tonight!
You're kidding me that Kopecky gets called for the trip when Niedermayer didn't get called for taking down Fil. Is this gonna be one of those games?
Bert runs Hasek right off the bat. Send Kopy out to run Giguere. And Pronger's complaining, he's used to the refs giving him whatever he wants.
Pronger goes with Cleary? Not Franzen, not Lilja, of course not Downey. Pronger is a p*ssy.
Way to go Raffy! If the Ducks are gonna play the physical game and get in penalty trouble, make them pay!
Would love to see DOWNEY do MOEN.
This match up is a good test for the WINGS ... a big, fast DUCK, for the plucking.
They're interviewing HOMER now ..... He obviously has had extensive dental work ... LOL ... his teeth are in too good of shape.
Pronger goes with Cleary? Not Franzen, not Lilja, of course not Downey. Pronger is a p*ssy.
Pronger definitely has a height advantage. He's 6-6 .... Cleary about 6-0 ...
Pronger has never impressed me.
How he managed to be selected for the Norris a few years back is beyond me.
Nice Feed to Fil who drives it home ....!!!
Nice.
"Wings take advantage of Beauchimin..." Damn straight, Larry. That's illegal in some places.
The Chickens definitely know the art of drawing penalties .... OBVIOUS penalties.
Love it when the WINGS completely out finesse them though.
How did Beauchimin ever think he could get away with that?
What league is he playing in??
Hahaha
Looks like stuff that happened all the time in the 70s and 80s, even to some extent in the 90s.
but today? Don't think so.
Gawd. Anyone else notice how BIG GIGUERE is in the Nets? He's a monster.
Wouldn't be surprised if a few of the WINGS are damn sore after this game. DUCKS have been
EXTREMELY physical.
Like I said earlier this is a GOOD test.
Love to see DOWNEY doing some ENFORCING ...
Not sure but I think McDonnell knew DOWNEY was serious.
Nice Job AARON.
OOops Sorry -- O'DONNELL .. not McDONNELL.
Where'd ya go Clark?
I'm around, just trying not to get riled up.
Damnit!
Wings have gotta shut things down. Don't let this get tied up.
Ducks are getting too much pressure here.
Gotta win this draw.
Way to go! Dom was huge in holding onto the lead at the end there.
And now I get to go to bed.
Well, if you didn't see the last 2 1/2 minutes of this game, you missed a good finish.
Lots of pressure by the DUCKS on the WINGS ... The WINGS survived it.
DOMN came up big 3-4 times ...
GOOD JOB!
Gawd. Anyone else notice how BIG GIGUERE is in the Nets? He's a monster.
XD Uh, only blind people can miss him and his barely legal pads. They're like...twice the size of him!
I was so happy I stayed up and watched this game. It totally awed me.
Dr. Fil & Kopy gave the Ducks a taste of Detroit's medicine (because they aren't cool enough for it to be their own 
)
In the words of our old friend Mathieu Schneider, this game was "stellar".
This game was entertaining through the end.
& when they come back to visit us on the 10th dear old Mathieu can get his fill of pizza
Damnit! I missed another one. To hell with those underway days!!!
Comment on this Article
You must be logged in to add your comment.