Anaheim, Calif. – Dustin Penner scored with 5:20 remaining to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night in the opening game of their first-round playoff series.
Game 2 of the Western Conference matchup is Friday night at Anaheim.
Penner poked the puck in after Minnesota defenseman Kim Johnsson crashed into Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, sending him sprawling backward into the net.
The puck was sitting in the crease, and Corey Perry swept it toward the goal. Penner took a couple of swipes at it and forced it in.
Teemu Selanne tied it for Anaheim with a second-period goal, just 3:51 after Pavol Demitra scored for Minnesota.
Ilya Bryzgalov started in place of Jean-Sebastien Giguere and made 24 saves for Anaheim. Backstrom stopped 32 shots.
Giguere has been taking time off to be with his wife and newborn son. Maxime was born April 4 with a condition that could leave him blind in his right eye. Giguere and his wife, Kristen, were worried about the vision in the baby’s left eye as well, but a specialist told them Tuesday their son will have sight in that one.
Giguere, who was on the bench and available to play Wednesday, was the MVP of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs, when the Ducks were beaten in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals by the New Jersey Devils.
Bryzgalov played well during the postseason last year when Giguere was injured, helping Anaheim advance to the Western Conference Finals, where the Ducks lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers.
Selanne, rejuvenated since his return to Anaheim before the 2005-06 season, took a long pass from Francois Beauchemin, broke behind the defense and into the slot, where he slid the puck between Backstrom’s pads at 9:52 of the second.
Demitra beat Bryzgalov with a 15-foot slap shot down the slot, with the puck sailing into the net high on the goalie’s glove side at 14:51 of the second period. Kurtis Foster, who passed to Demitra from the top of the left circle, got an assist along with Marian Gaborik.
SENATORS 6, PENGUINS 3 at Ottawa: Andrej Meszaros and Chris Kelly scored 5:01 apart early in the first period and Ottawa ruined Sidney Crosby’s postseason debut in the opening game of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Tom Preissing made it 3-0 with a power-play goal 14:38 into the second after Ottawa scored twice on Marc-Andre Fleury in the opening period, when the Senators had a 16-4 shots advantage. Crosby scored one goal and had another disallowed.
“Instead of going out there and trying to set the tone ourselves, I think we tried go out there and feel things out,” Crosby said. “When you do that, you get caught watching sometimes and unfortunately they were able to get a lead on us.”
The 19-year-old Crosby, who led the NHL with 120 points, scored the game’s final goal at 19:11 for his first playoff point. He also had a goal called off 37 seconds into the third after Dany Heatley put Ottawa up 4-1 with a power-play goal 28 seconds earlier.
“That actually helped us bear down and focus a little more,” Preissing said. “When we did restore that three-goal lead, maybe we let up a little bit, and I think that non-goal helped restore our focus.”
Chris Neil and Mike Comrie added third-period goals, and Ray Emery stopped 23 shots for Ottawa, which went 31-7-8 from Dec. 23 to the end of the season.
“For sure that was not the start that we were expecting,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “You’ve got to give credit to Ottawa. They played a really solid game. They beat us in every aspect of tonight’s game.”
Jordan Staal and Sergei Gonchar scored for Pittsburgh, which played its first playoff game since 2001.
Fleury made 30 saves before he was replaced by Jocelyn Thibault during a stoppage in play midway through the third with Ottawa leading 6-1.
“Right away they got a goal and it just seemed like they were always there, always coming back for more,” Fleury said.
Game 2 of the series is Saturday in Ottawa.
“We know they’re a dangerous team, whether they’re young or not,” Heatley said. “We’ll just worry about ourselves and the way we play.”
