Red Wings Fall to Ducks on Late Controversial Goal

The Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks seemed to be headed to overtime on Saturday night but a late goal by Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf propelled the Ducks to a 3-2 win.

Getzlaf appeared to tie up Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall along the right wing boards in the Red Wings’ zone before picking up the puck and cutting in on goal all alone to beat goalie Jimmy Howard with 24 seconds remaining. No penalty was called on the play, leaving the Detroit bench livid.

The Wings were unable to even things back up in the closing seconds as the Ducks held on to win.

Getzlaf had opened the game’s scoring at 1:13 of the second period. Howard bobbled the puck behind his net and Patrick Maroon picked off his attempted pass. As Howard raced back into the crease, Maroon fed Corey Perry in front. The puck hopped over Perry’s stick but came right to Getzlaf to snap into the back of the net.

Luke Glendening got the Red Wings on the board with 4:27 left in the period, whipping a backhander from low in the right faceoff circle past Anaheim netminder Frederik Andersen.

Gustav Nyquist put Detroit up at 1:57 of the final frame, ripping a shot from the left wing past Andersen off a long feed from Henrik Zetterberg during an Anaheim line change.

Just 1:21 later, Matt Beleskey tied things back up. Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith lost the puck to Anaheim’s Ryan Kesler behind the Red Wings’ goal and Kesler sent a pass out into the slot for Beleskey to blast back past Howard to make it 2-2.

Howard finished the night with 23 saves on 26 shots against. Andersen stopped 27 of 29 Detroit chances.

Neither team scored a power play goal on the night, with the Red Wings getting two chances with the extra attacker and the Ducks three.

The Red Wings are now off until Wednesday when they host the Boston Bruins for the second time in three games.

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Detroit remained without Pavel Datsyuk, out with an injured shoulder… The Red Wings’ healthy scratches were Daniel Cleary, Stephen Weiss, and Brian Lashoff.