Wilson Bids an Aud Farewell with First Victory for the Ducks : Hockey: Coach grew up in Buffalo’s venerable building and gets 4-1 victory over Sabres on its final opening night.

It was Aud Lang Syne for Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson on Friday at Memorial Auditorium, the Buffalo Sabres’ 55-year-old home known for decades as simply “the Aud.”

Wilson learned to play hockey within the Aud’s stone walls, where he and his brothers used to knock around a crushed tin can wrapped in tape while they waited for their father in the hallway after his minor league games with the Buffalo Bison.

A generation later, Wilson said farewell with a 4-1 victory over the Sabres before the final opening-night hockey crowd the building will ever see. The Sabres will play in the new Crossroads Arena next season.

“I came over and sat in the seats yesterday and again this morning,” Wilson said. “It was nostalgia for the old building. For 13 years we sat in those exact same seats. I sat there and watched practice and reminisced.”

And as he watched the Sabres practice, a game plan was formulated in Wilson’s mind. It was the pressuring, hard-forechecking attack that the Ducks used to earn their first victory of the season.

“I learned to play hockey right here on this ice surface, and I know how tough it is to play here. I know how small it is,” he said.

Paul Kariya and other forwards skated in on Buffalo’s defensemen, nagging and chasing them in their own zone, and time and time again, the Sabres lost the puck.

By the end of a first period that ranked among the best in the Ducks’ history, they led, 3-0, on goals by Kariya, center Steve Rucchin and right wing Peter Douris. Only superb stops by Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek held it that close.

“We were flying,” said Kariya, whose power-play goal at 8:52 of the first period was his fourth goal in three games. “When we play that kind of game and use our speed, we’re very hard to stop. But we’ve got to realize we need to do that for 60 minutes and not 10, here and there.”

Mikhail Shtalenkov, taking a turn in goal for the Ducks in relief of Guy Hebert, turned away all but one of the Sabres’ 25 shots. Their only goal came on a screened shot from the point by Charlie Huddy.

That made the score 3-1 at 9:47 of the second period, and the Ducks had to sweat for while in a game that devolved into what Wilson called “a penalty fest.” There were 98 minutes in penalties combined, but the Ducks penalty-killing units shut out the Sabres’ on all eight of their chances and have allowed only one goal in 25 power plays.

The final margin came on Rucchin’s second goal of the game, an empty-netter with 1:05 left.

For the Ducks, who entered the game 0-2, getting their first victory of the season was “huge,” Kariya said. For Wilson, it was more than that.

“I’m really happy to finish it like that. I’d never won a game here with any team,” he said. “I’ve always gotten chills being in this building. It’s emotional.

“We used to sit right over there in the corner near the exit. Row H. The first four seats. What I want to do is get those seats when they tear the building down.”

Duck Notes

Right wing Todd Ewen suffered cuts on the fingers of his left hand when cut by a linesman’s skate blade during a fight with Rob Ray and was taken to the hospital for stitches. Though the injury did not seem serious, he will be out for “a while,” Coach Ron Wilson said.

After goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov’s performance, Wilson said there is “a good chance” he will start again tonight in place of Guy Hebert. . . . Veteran forwards Garry Valk and Joe Sacco were scratched as Wilson sent a message. Defensemen Oleg Tverdovsky and Milos Holan (flu) were the other scratches.