Ducks Get Sudden Win Selanne's Goal in Ot is Winner

May 25, 12:00 AM

Current Headlines: By ELLIOTT TEAFORD

DETROIT -- Teemu Selanne had the puck on his stick in sudden- death overtime Sunday. Incredibly, there was no one standing between him and the opposing goalie.

Selanne switched the puck to his backhand as he skated closer, faking Dominik Hasek to the ice and lifting a shot into the back of the net for a goal he had no business scoring in a game the Ducks had no business winning.

But he did score and the Ducks did win, taking a 2-1 victory from the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals at Joe Louis Arena.

The Ducks lead the best-of-7 series, 3-2, and have a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup finals with a victory in Game 6 on Tuesday night at the Honda Center.

"It's huge to come into this building and steal a game like this," Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said after the Ducks rallied from a 1-0 deficit on Scott Niedermayer's power-play goal with 48 seconds remaining in regulation time.

Selanne won the game for the Ducks at 11:57 of overtime, picking up a loose puck after teammate Andy McDonald poked it away from Detroit's Andreas Lilja.

"Teemu was pressuring him pretty hard behind the net and I got a good angle on him (as he skated up the ice)," McDonald said. "I turned and, well, you feel pretty good when Teemu gets the puck all alone against a goalie."

Selanne stuck the puck in the net, a crowd of 20,003 went silent and the Ducks poured over the boards to celebrate a most unlikely victory.

The Ducks were outshot, 37-26, but that only begins to explain the lopsided nature of the game's first 59 minutes. Lilja, a former Kings defenseman, had given the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the playoffs 6:13 into the second period.

The Red Wings couldn't increase their lead, however. The Ducks marched to the penalty box in relentless fashion during the middle period, but their penalty-killers blanked the Red Wings on four chances and the score remained the same.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned away the Red Wings again and again, keeping the Ducks within striking distance until leaving for a sixth skater after Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk was whistled for interfering with McDonald with 1:47 left in the third.

Chris Pronger, who returned to the lineup after serving a one- game suspension for his hit on Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3, triggered the tying goal. He passed from near the blue line to Selanne, who was stationed on the left wing.

Niedermayer drifted into the left faceoff circle, accepted a pass from Selanne and whipped a low shot on net. The puck struck the stick of Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, popped into the air and sailed over Hasek's left shoulder.

"Well, I was going to put it off the crossbar and in," Niedermayer later joked when asked what might have happened if Lidstrom hadn't deflected his shot. "I just tried to get it away quick and get it on net."

It was as if an electrical current surged through the Ducks to start overtime. Instead of circling with the puck far from the prime scoring locations, as they had for most of the game, they charged at Hasek's net and recorded the first five shots on net in OT. The Ducks' newfound energy was difficult to miss.

Midway through overtime, Lilja managed to break away from Selanne's forecheck only to be cut off by McDonald. It's a play that happens dozens of times during a typical game, but this time Lilja failed to skate the puck out of his own end.

Selanne pounced and the game was soon over.

"Everything happened so quickly," Selanne said. "You don't have time to plan anything. But, obviously, over the years I've been practicing that move so many times that it just came in my mind. I knew I would have to get it upstairs because he goes down all the time. He covers the bottom (of the net).

"It was great to see that go in."

Now, it's back to the Honda Center for Game 6.

"Our club has never quit, not once this year," Selanne said. "We have to keep battling and believe good things are going to happen. It's a good win, but we have to move on. We know the biggest game is still to come."

elliott.teaford@dailybreeze.com

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