Ducks look to dish out some special treatment

DETROIT — Suddenly, the Ducks aren’t looking so special.

The feeling persists that their Western Conference final series against the Detroit Red Wings could be pushed to the limit after two odd bounces essentially separated the two top-seeded teams Friday night in a tight Game 1.

So how do the Ducks reverse their 2-1 defeat to ensure a longer series? Fixing their special-teams play would be a start.

The Red Wings won that battle as both of their goals came against a penalty-killing unit that is the best among the four teams still standing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Meanwhile, the Ducks came up empty on seven power-play chances.

It marked a big letdown after quality work in the first two rounds against Minnesota and Vancouver. The ailing power play hasn’t produced in the last three playoff games after accounting for scores in six of their first eight.

But the lack of success isn’t getting the Ducks down. They’ll get another chance tonight in Game 2.

“I don’t think we’re in any kind of a spell,” said center Ryan Getzlaf, who hit the crossbar with a shot on one first-period advantage. “We’re not worried about our power play by any means. We’re getting lots of chances. The pucks will find a way to get to the net if we just keep shooting.

“We’ve been confident in our ability to play on the power play and it’s not going to change.”

Defenseman Chris Pronger offered a cure for a unit that hasn’t scored since Corey Perry’s winning goal in Game 3 of a conference semifinal against Vancouver -- a string of 26 chances.

“I think the big thing is moving it around a little crisper, a little quicker,” Pronger said. “The last few games, we’ve been holding onto the puck a little too long. It allows the box to recover and allows the goalie to obviously get set.

“The other critical point is getting good traffic in front so he can’t see the shots. Hopefully, we can do that a little better in Game 2.”

The “he” is 42-year-old Dominik Hasek. The ageless wonder is showing the form that made him a two-time Hart Trophy winner as the NHL’s most valuable player and a six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie.

Hasek made 31 saves and played a crucial role in the victory as the Red Wings defeated goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the playoffs for the first time. Giguere was nearly Hasek’s equal as he stopped 17 shots.

“I think the secret was Dom and how good he was,” Detroit center Kris Draper said. “You know you’re going to get penalties. The tough part is we put ourselves down five-on-three and obviously a four-on-three. They’ve got too many guys that can shoot the puck.”

On taking 10 minor penalties, Draper said, “That’s something that we certainly have talked about [to] make sure we can’t do anymore.”

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said his team did many things well but that two areas stood out in their failure to convert. Chris Kunitz’s first goal of the postseason came on a rush at even strength.

“We had 32 shots on net, but I think we missed 17,” Carlyle said. “We had 17 opportunities where we shot the puck, directed it at the net, and we didn’t get it there. That’s a huge, huge stat for us.

“The other area is I think they blocked 14 shots. We had a lot of things go our way that were positives other than the fact we didn’t put the puck behind the goaltender enough.”

The other issue at hand is contending with winger Tomas Holmstrom, whose propensity to create havoc in front of the net factored into the winning goal.

It was Holmstrom who jostled with Giguere and Scott Niedermayer enough to have Nicklas Lidstrom’s shot deflect off him, with the loose puck being inadvertently knocked into the net by defenseman Francois Beauchemin.

“I don’t think it’s a natural talent that Holmstrom possesses,” Carlyle said. “If you watched today when they practiced, he was out there for a good 20 minutes or half hour practicing that art.... He’s a force to be reckoned with at that position on the ice.”

Giguere said he can’t get caught up in what Holmstrom does in front of him. The defense, he said, must find a way to keep him from establishing position.

“If he’s in front of me, I think we’re going to waste energy if we just try to battle him in front,” Giguere said. “Just kind of let him be and maybe take his stick away. But the more battling in front, the harder it is for me to see the puck.

“I can work around one guy but working around two or three guys is a little harder.”

The Ducks can figure to see much of the same in the series.

“You’ve got to stick with what works,” Red Wings forward Todd Bertuzzi said. “Continue that and I think that there’s only room for us to get better.”

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