ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Mighty Ducks of Anaheim rookie Joffrey Lupul should be expecting a notion of gratitude from teammate Todd Simpson.
Lupul erased a blunder by Simpson with a power-play goal midway through the third period, lifting the Mighty Ducks into a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks.
After a scoreless first period, Chicago put pressure on goaltender Martin Gerber seven minutes into the second. Making his third start of the season, Gerber was equal to the task, stopping several shots by Kyle Calder.
But as the puck lay at the right edge of the crease, Simpson inadvertently swept it into his own net, giving the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Calder was credited with his third goal of the season.
"I take them how I get them," Calder said. "But Arny (Tyler Arnason) was right there. He would have put it in the net anyway."
"I hit it, I really hammered it in," Simpson said. "I was battling those two guys, the puck was right there and I was trying to hit the stick. Instead, I hammered it right in. I'm not happy, the coaches can't be happy. I'm very disappointed. It really (stunk)."
Gerber admitted he had no idea how the puck got by him.
"I stopped it, the puck bounced back to (Calder)," he said. "He tried to slide it in and I made the save. I was down and didn't see how it went in."
The goal held up until Lupul, the seventh overall pick in the 2002 draft, scored his second in as many games to draw the Ducks even.
Gerber made 25 saves while his counterpart, Michael Leighton, stopped 31 shots.
The tie extended Anaheim's unbeaten streak against Chicago to six games (4-0-2).
With Scott Nichol serving a holding the stick penalty, defenseman Niclas Havelid controlled the puck at the blue line and wound up for a slap shot. But instead of shooting, he passed to Lupul, who one-timed the puck past Leighton at 12:50 of the third to knot the game.
"It was a good pass," Lupul said. "Not only did (Havelid) find me there, he faked the shot and put the goalie over a bit. So all I really had to do was back it up. ... I think he saw me all the way or else he made a pretty good fake and then saw me. Either way, it was a really good play on his part."
Chicago, which extended its unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2) and moved to 1-0-2 on its four-game road trip, had the best scoring chance in overtime.
With one minute expired in the extra session, Steve Sullivan held the puck at the left point and fed a streaking Nathan Dempsey, who was stopped at the top of the crease by Gerber.
Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei nearly scored with 2:17 to go, but the referee could not see the puck and blew the whistle before it crossed the goal line.
"I had it and it just snuck through right as they blew the whistle," Leighton said. "I was pretty fortunate there."
"It was unfortunate that the referee lost sight of the puck," Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. "These things happen."
