DUCKS GOING, GOING ...

Byline: Tim Trepany Daily News Staff Writer

For the first time in their Western Conference playoff series, the Mighty Ducks were left with no ``if onlys.''

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from two, two-goal deficits and beat the Ducks in somewhat convincing fashion 5-3 in Game 3 Tuesday at the Pond.

After winning the first two games in overtime - outings that left the Ducks convinced they needed to make only minor adjustments - the Red Wings needed only regulation to put the Ducks on the brink of elimination.

They broke a 3-3 tie with two goals in a 24-second span of the third period to put the Ducks at a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 disadvantage in the best-of-seven series.

No statistics for preliminary rounds were available, but in the finals, only one team out of 23 that has fallen behind 3-0 won four straight games to take the series.

Detroit's Russian Five did the Ducks in. They accounted for four of the goals and three of them were on the ice for Doug Brown's goal.

Sergei Fedorov and Slava Kozlov provided the biggest goals. Fedorov's slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle beat goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov low on the stick side 3 minutes, 34 seconds in the third period to break a tie score.

Kozlov gave them some breathing room at 3:58 by putting in a backhanded shot by Shtalenkov on a 1 on 1.

Shtalenkov, making his first start of the playoffs because Guy Hebert was sidelined with a pulled groin, faced 49 shots.

The Ducks were also missing David Karpa, one of their best defenseman, because of torn chest muscle.

They had every excuse to start out shaky, but it was the Red Wings who unraveled early.

They had one particularly mind-numbing stretch during the first period that led to two Ducks goals.

First, Detroit's Mike Vernon got a high-sticking penalty, a rare call on a goalie. Even rarer was the 10-minute misconduct tacked on for arguing the call.

With Vladimir Konstantinov already in the penalty box for tripping center Richard Park, the Ducks held a two-man advantage, a frightening prospect when your goalie has just lost his composure.

The Ducks quickly took advantage, with Paul Kariya one-timing a shot from the right faceoff circle past Vernon at 11:19.

The Red Wings' self-destruction continued. Just 15 seconds after the goal, defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was whistled for tripping Teemu Selanne, giving the Ducks another 5 on 3.

It took them 35 seconds to capitalize, with Kariya threading a pass from the deep right wing to Selanne near the left post. Selanne redirected it in for his seventh playoff goal and a 2-0 lead.

The Red Wings pulled to within one when Kozlov followed his own rebound to score on a power play at 15:47 of the first, but they committed another mistake that led to a third Ducks' goal.

Trying to clear the puck out of his team's zone, Red Wings defenseman Aaron Ward's pass deflected off the skate of Ducks wing Warren Rychel.

Ted Drury picked up the loose puck and beat Vernon with a low shot at 5:12 of the second for a 3-1 lead.

It was Drury's first goal in the playoffs.

But the Ducks couldn't hold the lead.

Igor Larionov scored off a deflection at 13:03 of the second and Brown followed just under 3 -1/2 minutes with a goal that tied the score.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Detroit's Mike Vernon argues with referee Bill McCreay, who handed him a 10-minute misconduct penalty for questioning a call.

(2--ran in FINAL edition only) The Ducks' Darren Van Impe, left, gets a hard check from Detroit's Darren McCarty in the second period.

Associated Press