Ducks Primed for Main Event

Mercifully, almost a month’s worth of tuneups is finally over for the Mighty Ducks. Now, it’s on to bigger, better and far more difficult challenges.

Having brushed aside the troublesome Nashville Predators, 3-2, Friday at the Arrowhead Pond for their franchise-record-tying sixth consecutive victory, the Ducks get a crack Sunday at the Detroit Red Wings.

That’s the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, by the way. The game will be shown nationally on ESPN.

Is there a better way to determine whether the Ducks are a contender or a pretender?

And is there a better opportunity for right wing Teemu Selanne to showcase his superb offensive skills?

There is no hotter team or player in the NHL than the Ducks, who won their 12th in 15 games Friday, and Selanne, who has at least one goal or assist in 15 consecutive games.

To be sure, Friday’s victory moved the Ducks one step closer to a postseason berth and two points closer to the fading Phoenix Coyotes, who lead the Ducks by a mere three points in the fight for fourth place in the Western Conference.

The Ducks trailed the Coyotes, who have lost nine of 10, by 17 points as recently as Feb. 14.

Defeating Nashville also enabled the Ducks (29-25-9) to move four games over .500 for the first time in their six-season history.

However, good against the likes of Nashville, the Kings and the San Jose Sharks is one thing. Good against the Red Wings, 14-3-5 in their history against the Ducks, is another.

The plain fact is the Red Wings are the first .500 team the Ducks will face since defeating the Coyotes, 5-1, Feb. 14 at Phoenix. Nashville was the ninth consecutive team the Ducks played with a losing record.

“We’ve got to play a lot better than the last two games,” left wing Paul Kariya said. “If we put that kind of effort on the ice against Detroit we’re going to get killed.”

Heaven knows the Ducks might have been forgiven for fixing their gaze on Detroit instead of the Predators.

But the Ducks had been down that bumpy road before, overlooking the Predators in two embarrassing losses earlier this season at Nashville Arena.

This time, the Ducks had Nashville sized up properly, building a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period.

Selanne and Jeff Nielsen scored first-period goals for the Ducks.

Selanne’s goal extended his point streak to a franchise-record-tying 15 consecutive games. It also gave him an eight-game goal-scoring streak, tying him with Buffalo’s Miroslav Satan for the NHL’s longest streak this season.

“He’s just in a goal-scoring zone right now,” Kariya said of Selanne. “He’s probably played a better all-around game [in the past]. Offensively, everything he’s doing is so good.”

Nielsen’s goal was the first of two he scored Friday. He also had a third-period goal that gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead at 9:03.

Skating past a fallen Kimmo Timonen, Nielsen picked up a loose puck at the blue line and raced in on Nashville goalie Mike Dunham to score at the 7:06 mark of the first period.

“It’s good to see [Nielsen] get rewarded,” Kariya said. “He’s played hard and physical for us all year. He [checked] a couple of guys tonight and got us going.”

A little more than 12 minutes after Nielsen scored, Selanne added a power-play goal at 19:33, whistling a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Dunham.

Duck goalie Dominic Roussel played well with Guy Hebert receiving a night off. Roussel made several key saves, particularly in the second period when Nashville buzzed his net repeatedly.

But he had no answer for Tom Fitzgerald’s slap shot midway through the second period that gave Nashville a big lift and trimmed the Duck lead to 2-1 at 11:50. Cliff Ronning also scored for Nashville.

Credit goes to the Predators for giving Roussel and the Ducks a rough time when they could easily have surrendered. One night after defeating the Kings, 4-3, at the Great Western Forum, the Predators still had enough spirit and speed to make a game of it Friday.

Dunham was spectacular at times, foiling Selanne and Kariya on several scoring chances. Dunham stopped Selanne and Kariya once each and watched another point-blank try sail wide during one stretch early in the third period.