DEAD DUCKS

It ain’t over . . . till it’s overtime.

The Mighty Ducks, trying to avoid being swept by Detroit, took the Red Wings to double-overtime Thursday--the third overtime game in four games.

But it turned into another excruciating loss when Detroit ended the series anyway when Brendan Shanahan scored on a rebound from a scramble in front of the net with 2:57 left in the second overtime to hand the Ducks a 3-2 loss.

Those who remained in the stands at the Pond when the game ended at 12:25 a.m., almost five hours after it started, applauded both teams.

The suspense wasn’t over immediately--the goal was reviewed to see if any of the Red Wings were in the crease, but it stood.

Only minutes earlier, Detroit thwarted the Ducks on a power play after a high-sticking penalty against Slava Fetisov.

The Ducks had chances in the first overtime, but Detroit had more, outshooting them 12-8. The Ducks’ Warren Rychel came closest to scoring, but fanned on the puck at the left post. Detroit’s Steve Yzerman missed one early when he shot wide.

Rychel had another great opportunity in the second overtime, but didn’t get much on the shot after he corralled a loose puck in the slot. Teemu Selanne had another on the left side of the net off a rush with Paul Kariya, but Detroit goalie Mike Vernon was there.

As the game wore on, Duck goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov set a team record for most shots faced--72.

The Ducks were trying to overcome a 3-0 deficit, which only two teams in history have accomplished.

Detroit won Game 1 in overtime and won Game 2 in triple-overtime before overcoming a 3-1 deficit for a 5-3 victory in Game 3.

In Game 4, the Ducks went ahead, 2-1, late in the second period and held onto the lead until almost halfway through the third, when Darren McCarty held off Kariya behind the net just enough to throw the puck in front to Nicklas Lidstrom as he fell to the ice.

Lidstrom made good on a shot from the slot, tying the score, 2-2, at 9:09 of the third.

The Ducks were trying to play defense at all costs--they had only one shot in the third until Bobby Dollas’ narrow miss with 3:11 left in the game.

The Ducks got a real scare with 5 1/2 minutes left when Shtalenkov, starting a second game in a row in place of injured Guy Hebert, went down after making a stop on McCarty on a near breakaway.

On the bench was emergency backup Mike O’Neill of the Long Beach Ice Dogs, but Shtalenkov recovered to continue.

The Ducks put some early shakiness behind them, and Joe Sacco gave them a real spark of belief when he scored 3:01 into the game.

Even though Detroit’s Doug Brown tied the score with 1:35 left in the first period, the possibility the Ducks wouldn’t lose had been raised.

Soon, the Red Wings began to grow frustrated as the Ducks kept dumping the puck in, again and again.

They kept killing off Detroit power-play opportunities too, and finally got one of their own when McCarty was called for slashing at 14:14 of the second.

It got off to an unsettling start for Vernon when J.J. Daigneault’s long dump-in caromed bizarrely. With Vernon already out of the net to play the puck, it skittered through the crease, just in front of the goal line.

Moments later, Kariya got the puck with time to shoot from the right corner, but Vernon made the save. Then, still on the same shift, Brian Bellows skated in on the right wing and let a shot fly that found its way into the net from a tough angle for a 2-1 lead at 15:23 of the second.

The chances were there to make it a two-goal lead. Kariya sprinted down the left wing and threw a shot that Vernon stopped, then bobbled, and had to snag with his glove to keep it from falling dangerously near the goal line.

Minutes later, the Ducks had another power-play chance when Detroit’s antagonistic defenseman, Vladimir Konstantinov, was whistled for high-sticking Kariya.

Konstantinov went to the box, where he kept trying to cover a television camera by tossing his towel at it. On the ice, Selanne’s terrific pass sent Jari Kurri in on a breakaway.

Kurri went to his forehand, pulled the puck back with a little hesitation move, and shot, but didn’t get the puck up, and Vernon made the save with 30 seconds left in the period.

It hasn’t been that long since a team lost in overtime three times out of four games. It happened to Vancouver in 1995 against Chicago.

“To be honest, I’d love to win the Stanley Cup, but realistically, it’s our first time here,” Dollas said before the game.

With a Duck goal in overtime, there would have been a Game 5 in Detroit on Saturday.

Instead, the Ducks’ first playoff appearance is over.