Todd Marchant scored 1 minute, 15 seconds into triple overtime to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, tying up their Western Conference semi-final before the teams head to California.
The Ducks now fly home for Game 3 and Game 4 today and Thursday with the best-of-seven series deadlocked at 1-1.
Having played the equivalent of almost two complete games, Marchant ended the marathon when he raced into the Detroit zone and rifled a shot over goalie Chris Osgood’s outstretched glove to stun the capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena.
PHOTO: AP
It marked the first playoff loss for the Red Wings after a first-round sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets and a 3-2 Game 1 win over Anaheim on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Ducks, who knocked off the top ranked San Jose Sharks in the opening round, will be happy to leave the Motor City having earned a split with the Stanley Cup champions.
“The guys battled all night,” Marchant said. “I saw the defenseman kind of slide over and I just tried to fire it back to the far side and fortunately it went in.”
After each team scored twice in the opening period, the contest turned into a goalkeeping duel between Anaheim’s Jonas Hiller and Red Wings veteran Osgood.
Playing in his first Stanley Cup playoffs, Hiller was spectacular as the Red Wings blasted 62 shots at the Swiss keeper, while Osgood faced 46 salvos.
Hiller was particular sharp during the first overtime, as the Red Wings out shot Anaheim 14-6.
Brad Stuart gave the Wings a fortunate early lead when the puck deflected off his skate then off Anaheim defenseman James Wisniewski past a helpless Hiller.
However, the Ducks hit back with two goals in 34 seconds, Ryan Getzlaf tapping in a rebound and Chris Pronger hammering a shot from the point that flew past a screened Osgood.
Mikael Samuelsson sent the teams into the first intermission deadlocked at 2-2 when he backhanded a shot between Hiller’s pads.
The Ducks had the only goal of the second period, Ryan Carter converting a powerplay chance when he controlled a rebound off the back boards and slammed the puck into a gaping Detroit net.
The Red Wings Johan Franzen, who has 17 goals in his last 22 playoff games, notched one of his biggest early in the third period, rifling a wrist shot to tie the game and send it to overtime.
■EASTERN CONFERENCE
REUTERS, BOSTON
The Carolina Hurricanes blanked the Boston Bruins 3-0 on the back of 36 saves from Cam Ward to even up their Eastern Conference semi-final series at 1-1 on Sunday.
Ward secured his fourth career playoff shutout, while goals from Joe Corvo, Matt Cullen and Eric Staal gave the underdog Hurricanes a huge lift heading back to Raleigh for Game 3 tomorrow.
“He is our rock,” Staal said of Ward. “He needs to play well every night in order for us to have a shot at winning and he did that tonight.”
Ward preserved the shutout with 16 saves in the third period, including big stops on shots by Boston’s Michael Ryder and Dennis Wideman during a Bruins’ powerplay.
“We needed to respond to them and have a big effort tonight, and I thought we played well,” Ward said after his second playoff shutout in four games.
Corvo and Cullen scored in the second period, Cullen on a short-handed tally before Staal added an empty-netter with 28 seconds to play.
The goals were the first of the playoffs for both Corvo and Cullen.
“We played a more patient game,” Corvo said. “In the last game, we wanted to score two goals in one shift. We were pressing and guys were getting anxious. We just kind of relaxed tonight.”
The loss ended a five-game playoff winning streak for the top-seeded Bruins, who swept the Montreal Canadiens in their first-round series and beat the Hurricanes 4-1 on Friday.
Carolina had a potential fourth goal waived off with 0.2 seconds to go in the second when a shot by Chad LaRose hit the crossbar and rolled along the goal-line.
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