Sunday, March 07, 1999
ADIRONDACK 3, MIGHTY DUCKS 2
Cincinnati still under .500 mark
BY DAVE HELLER
Enquirer contributor
This is not the way Cincinnati Mighty Ducks coach Moe Mantha wanted to see his team head into a road trip. The Ducks displayed more intensity one night after listlessly beating Syracuse, the worst team in the AHL. But they still couldn't dominate a struggling Adirondack team, losing to the Red Wings 3-2 at the Gardens.
Adirondack (19-36-0-6) entered the game having won just once in its last 13 games (1-10-1-1). The Ducks had won three straight at home and 11 of their last 14.
The Ducks (27-29-0-4) failed to reach the .500 mark since Nov. 28. The team heads off to a five-game road trip and plays 15 of its final 20 games away from home, where they have won just six times this season.
“We want to come back with a good road record,” Mantha said. “For us to be successful in the playoffs we have to start winning on the road. It's going to be a challenge and a test of character as to what kind of team we really do have.”
Adirondack scored the game winner with 2:54 to play on a goal by Ryan Tobler. With 44.4 seconds left, the Ducks appeared to tie the game on a close range shot by Bob Wren, but referee Scott Zelkin immediately waved off the score, saying the puck did not cross the goal line.
“We watched it on tape and it didn't go in, he made the right call,” Mantha said.
Rasto Pavlikovsky returned to the lineup and contributed on both of Cincinnati's second period scores. He has registered points in 14 of the 16 games he's played with the Ducks. Pavlikovsky had missed the last five games with a sprained knee. “I was hungry, I haven't played for two weeks,” Pavlikovsky said.
Pavlikovsky tied the game 1-1 scoring a shorthanded goal, both his second and the team's second shorthanded goal of the season. After Pavlikovsky disrupted a slapshot from the point by Adirondack's Maxim Kuznetsov, Johann Davidsson quickly backhanded the puck back to Pavlikovsky who skated in alone on goalie Jason Elliott, firing the puck through Elliott's pads.
Less than two minutes later, the Red Wings retook the lead when B.J. Young stuffed the puck in before Ducks goalie Tom Askey could slide over to the post. But Frank Banham made it 2-2 with a hard wrist shot that Elliott couldn't catch, with linemates Pavlikovsky and Davidsson assisting on the score. With Mike Leclerc in Anaheim and Craig Reichert out with a charley horse, the Banham-Davidsson-Pavlikovsky combination is now the No. 1 line for the Ducks.
“It's great for me, I just set up shop in the slot and they give me great passes,” Banham said. “I have to put it in the net, that's all.”
Banham becomes the third Ducks player to amass 20 goals this season, joining Bob Wren and Craig Reichert.
Adirondack ....... 0 2 1—3
Cincinnati ....... 0 2 0—2
First period: None.
Second period: 1, A, Houda 4 (Laplante, Rodgers), 9:08; 2, C, Pavlikovsky 5 (Davidsson), shg, 10:51; 3, A, Young 11 (Audet, Hnidy), 12:46; 4, C, Banham 20 (Pavlikovsky, Davidsson), 14:22.
Third period: 5, A, Tobler 6 (Paradise, Wallin), 17:06.
Shots on goal: Ad 4-10-4=18; Cin 17-8-8=33. Power play opportunities: Ad 0-5; Cin 0-5. Goalies: Ad, Elliott (13-20-4); Cin, Askey (17-14-3).
Attendance: 6,226.
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