The Blackhawks still were trying to find a way to win Friday night when they left Anaheim for San Jose, Calif., the final stop on their four-game trip.
But they averted their first three-game losing streak of the season by rallying for a 1-1 tie with the Mighty Ducks.
Jocelyn Thibault and Steve Sullivan refused to let the Hawks lose.
Thibault made 32 saves and kept the Mighty Ducks off the scoreboard until German Titov scored the game’s first goal on a point-blank backhand rebound shot with 6 minutes 39 seconds elapsed in the third period. Oleg Tverdovsky took the original shot that was blocked by Eric Daze.
“The puck hit Eric in the chest and the first minute I saw it, Titov had it on his stick,” said Thibault.
“We’re on the right track. If we keep playing well defensively and keep getting 40 shots on net, we’ll start winning.”
The one that got away from Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere ricocheted off Sullivan’s stick to tie the score at 9:09 of the third period. Sullivan went to the net, planted his stick and tipped an outside shot by Daze past Giguere.
Sullivan also drew a key penalty late in the game. The Mighty Ducks were on the power play when Mike Leclerc tripped Sullivan in the Hawks’ zone with 4:26 remaining in regulation. As a result of the infraction, Anaheim’s power play ended 79 seconds early.
Although the Mighty Ducks went into the game with the worst record in the Western Conference, Hawks coach Brian Sutter went into the game wary.
“Most teams in the league today have a lot of elements that are capable of beating you every night,” he said. “Not sometimes. All the time.
“Paul Kariya is a notch above most people in the league. Certainly Jeff Friesen and Matt Cullen are darn good hockey players.”
In the first period, the Mighty Ducks were anything but sitting ducks. They outskated the Hawks and outshot them 14-7.
But Thibault had one of his finest periods of the season, repeatedly rejecting shots taken from his doorstep. He made three tough saves against Kariya, used his body to thwart an excellent opportunity by Steve Rucchin on the Mighty Ducks’ first power play and made another difficult stop against Friesen on their second power play.
Early in the second period Michael Nylander had the Hawks’ best scoring opportunity up to that point when he broke away with the puck. But Nylander made a bad decision when he was bearing down on Giguere; he decided to make a blind drop pass. The problem was that none of his teammates was directly behind him and the puck landed on the stick of Anaheim’s Jason York.
“I messed up totally,” said Nylander.
Alex Zhamnov played 22:18 in returning to the lineup after missing four straight games and five of the previous seven because of an injured right hip.
It was the first game for the newest Hawk, Tom Fitzgerald, the right wing/center acquired Wednesday from Nashville for a fourth-round draft choice.
“Alex and Tom were two of the better players for us,” said Sutter.
“I feel like I fit in,” said Fitzgerald. “It was nice to be counted on.”
