It took 57 seconds Sunday for two fights to break out between the Blackhawks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. And the bad blood escalated to 102 penalty minutes by the end of the night, including a Gary Suter cross-check–which went unpenalized–that knocked Anaheim’s Paul Kariya out of the game with a mild concussion.
But a man not involved in any of the altercations delivered the stunning blow–Ducks goaltender Guy Hebert–and Teemu Selanne came through with the knockout, scoring 2 minutes 51 seconds into overtime as Anaheim beat the Hawks 4-3.
Hebert was phenomenal, stopping a club-record 47 of 50 shots, including a penalty shot by Tony Amonte. Chris Chelios tied the game at 3-3 at 10:46 of the third period, but Hebert stopped Jim Cummins in close in overtime, and moments later, Selanne stole the puck from Trent Yawney and beat Jeff Hackett with his 39th goal of the season.
“We had so many chances, we could have had 10 goals,” said coach Craig Hartsburg. “Their goaltender was unbelievable.”
Hebert was at his unbelievable best with 31.7 seconds left in the second when referee Dan Marouelli awarded Amonte a penalty shot after Scott Young dragged him down from behind. Amonte tried to beat Hebert to his stick side, but Hebert made the pad save.
“Obviously a penalty shot can be a make-or-break play in the game,” Hebert said. “I’m glad I stopped it and put us in a good position to win the game.”
Hebert also stopped Sergei Krivokrasov on a 3 on 1, and stoned Krivokrasov on a breakaway.
Suter and Reid Simpson solved Hebert with goals in the first and second periods, but Kariya scored twice in the first 3:39 of the second, and Selanne made it 3-2 at 15:58.
