Anaheim Ducks Tales: The 2003 Sweep of the Detroit Red Wings
By Ciara Durant
April 12, 2003: Making it a 2-0 Series
One win was enough to get excited, but not enough to let the celebrations commence. The stark reality that at least three more games lay ahead began to sink in. The Red Wings still had plenty of time to pull ahead in the series and defeat the Mighty Ducks for the third time.
Detroit had the home-ice advantage yet again. After being so close to a win in Game One, they were hungry for vengeance. Game Two would be critical in setting the pace for the rest of the series.
The Mighty Ducks struck early in the opening period. A few minutes shy of the halfway point, 19-year-old rookie, Stanislav Chistov, scored the game-opening goal at 7:17. This would be his first of four goals during his first and only playoff appearance.
The first period ended with a scoreless Detroit team. Despite the few power-play opportunities freely given to them by the Anaheim Ducks, they were unable to make anything happen.
The second period started and the Red Wings came hot out of the gate. It took them less than three minutes to tie up the game. With the help of Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan, veteran defenseman and first-year Red Wing, Jason Woolley scored the game tieing goal.
The Mighty Ducks were beginning to lose steam, allowing for yet another Red Wings goal early in the second period. Luc Robitaille broke the tie at 6:39 of the second. The Ducks managed to keep them off the board for the rest of the period. However, no goals from Anaheim meant they needed to come out swinging in the third.
As time ticked off the clock in the third, it looked as though the Red Wings were about to tie the series. Anaheim, however, was relentless and a beautiful goal from Jason Krog tied the game up 2-2 late in the third period.
The shadow of another overtime game loomed like a black cloud over Joe Louis Arena. One of these teams needed to make something happen, and quickly.
Less than three minutes after Krogg’s game tieing goal, the Anaheim Ducks answered the call. Veteran forward, Steve Thomas sent the puck soaring past Curtis Joseph off a pass from Rob Niedermayer.
The Red Wings audience, as well as the team, sat in stunned silence as the Ducks pulled ahead. The final buzzer sounded, and for the second game in a row, the Mighty Ducks had bested the Detroit Red Wings, a franchise first for the waterfowl.