National Hockey League Scoreboard: Recap

Recap | Box Score | Today's Scoreboard

Detroit 2, Anaheim 1

Posted: Saturday November 16, 2002 01:12 AM

Anaheim Mighty Ducks Related Info: Team Page City Page: • Anaheim

Detroit Red Wings Related Info: Team Page City Page: • Detroit

DETROIT (Ticker) -- When the game is on the line, there's no better player to turn to than Sergei Fedorov.

Fedorov scored with 21 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Netting his league-leading sixth game-winning goal of the season and third in a row for the Red Wings, Fedorov became the all-time regular-season leader in overtime tallies with 12.

Capping a wild overtime in which both teams had quality scoring chances, the 32-year-old Russian fired a slap shot from just above the circles that got past the stick side of screened goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who was moving in the opposite direction.

"When (defenseman Chris Chelios) returned it to me, I looked at the net and I saw that corner," Fedorov said. "I knew the goalie wouldn't be able to see it."

"When it's 4-on-4, there's a little more ice and he has the ability to find the puck and get a shot off," Detroit coach Dave Lewis said.

Giguere believed he was interfered with before Fedorov's shot.

"That last one shouldn't have counted," he said. "(Brendan) Shanahan clearly ran into me in the crease and was creating some obstruction. It would have been a tough call, but I don't think the goal should've scored. I didn't see the shot. When you give a guy like that a chance like that and don't see the shot, he's gonna score more than not."

"Disappointed with giving up that goal," Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "They beat us back into the zone. Giguere stood on his head and stole us a point. We weren't going to get another point for the tie, but the moral victory would've been something special."

Brett Hull also scored for Detroit while Curtis Joseph turned aside 25 shots. The win was the third in a row for the Red Wings, who improved to 14-2-3-0 against Anaheim at Joe Louis Arena.

Giguere stopped 43 shots and Petr Sykora scored the lone goal for the Ducks, who are 4-0-0-2 in their last six contests.

Midway through a scoreless contest, Andy McDonald carried the puck into the Detroit zone and unleashed a shot from the slot that Joseph stopped. As the goalie swung his right leg and inadvertently kicked the puck away, Sykora grabbed it and put it into the net for his sixth goal of the season.

The Mighty Ducks maintained the 1-0 lead until 5:32 of the third. Luc Robitaille corraled the puck in the left corner and went behind the net before spotting Hull in the right circle. After receiving the pass, the veteran winger blasted a one-timer past Giguere to knot the contest.

"The first goal was just a bad bounce," Giguere said. "I rimmed it to (defenseman Niclas) Havelid and it took a weird bounce right to the stick of Luc Robitaille. He just came behind me and made a pass to Hull. It was a lucky bounce for them. I thought he tried to beat me five-hole, I didn't think he'd go around the net. I went out a little too much."

"It made a weird bounce to me," Robitaille said. "I was looking to give it to him before I went around the net, but their guy was covering him. I went around and figured he'd either go to him or come to me. If he came to him, I'd have wrapped it around. He looked at me and I saw that might've left (Hull) open. Brett is a goal scorer. I knew he'd find a way to get open. It was an easy play to make."

Giguere, who stopped Robitaille from the doorstep late in the first period, withstood heavy pressure late in the third to earn Anaheim a point.

With less than three minutes remaining, Hull tried to bank a shot off Giguere from behind the net. But the puck hit the goalie's right leg and caromed into the right circle and away from danger.

Seconds later, Hull, who has 28 goals and 46 points in 41 games against the Ducks, fired a slapper that Giguere snagged to keep it 1-1.

In the extra session, Sykora was denied on a 2-on-1 before Steve Rucchin lost control of the puck in front off a feed from Paul Kariya in the right corner.

"We had some good, quality chances down the stretch, but Cujo made some good saves," Babcock said. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Giguere made a sensational save with 89 seconds remaining, moving left to right across the crease to grab rookie defenseman Dmitri Bykov's slapper from alone in the left circle.