Douris’ Goal in Overtime Lifts Ducks Over Oilers

At first, it seemed as if neither the labor dispute nor the nine months between home games had changed much at The Pond of Anaheim, where a 26th consecutive sellout crowd of 17,174 welcomed the Mighty Ducks back with the same cheery enthusiasm Monday night--and yet another anthem singer botched the words to “O Canada.”

The action on the ice, though, was thrillingly different. The Ducks won in a fantastic overtime finish, 5-4, when Peter Douris scored with 39 seconds left in the extra period.

Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford made a crucial mistake at the end, when he came out too far to challenge Douris as he swept in after Patrik Carnback fed him a pass off the boards. Ranford came out, and Douris went by him, sweeping the puck into the open net to start the delirium.

“I never had to sweat out a game like that one before,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “That’s as tired as I’ve ever been after a game.”

Carnback played in Sweden during the lockout, and in the final minute, that might have been the difference.

“I didn’t think (Carnback) was going to get there, and then I saw Peter was starting to gain on the guy who was covering him,” Wilson said. “Patrik’s fresh legs for sure helped.”

The victory also marked a small but noteworthy record: At 2-1, the Ducks have a winning record for the first time in their 87-game history.

The Ducks, trailing by a goal in the final two minutes after a back-and-forth third period, tied the score, 4-4, on a goal by Joe Sacco at 18:26 when Sacco brought the puck from behind the net and then slipped it past Ranford.

Edmonton had taken the lead 66 seconds earlier when Kirk Maltby knocked the puck into the net on a diving effort after eluding defenseman Bobby Dollas at 17:40.

The Ducks, with a flashy new batch of rookies and an injection of offense from veteran defenseman Tom Kurvers, are suddenly exciting to watch. Kurvers scored two goals, rookie Paul Kariya had a goal and an assist and rookies Oleg Tverdovsky, Valeri Karpov and Steve Rucchin all got their first NHL point on assists.

No matter that professional singer Dale Kristien of “Phantom of the Opera” didn’t know the words to the Canadian anthem, the fans were delighted with free duck calls and welcome-back T-shirts that gave the dictionary definition of loyal duck fan as “unswerving in allegiance” and “a two-legged mammal that gathers in flocks.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was at the game and did TV and radio interviews, but the team didn’t push the friendly atmosphere by introducing him to the crowd.

The Ducks had a 3-2 lead in the third period until Roman Oksiuta tied the score on a fluky goal at 9:14. Goalie Guy Hebert got his glove on Mike Stapleton’s shot from the left point, but the puck hit the left post before settling in front of the net, where Oksiuta pushed it behind Hebert.

The Oilers held Kariya pointless when the teams played in the season opener Friday at Edmonton, and they were rough with him again Monday. But they got a little lesson from Kariya’s protectors after Luke Richardson knocked him down from behind early in the game, and paid for it shortly later.

Duck defenseman Robert Dirk, who is 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds, took up for Kariya, 5-10 and 175, and got a game misconduct after cross-checking Richardson and instigating a fight at 17:28 of the second.