Ducks, Senators: an Icy Relationship : * Hockey: Coaches go at it over Vial’s attacks on Kariya late in Anaheim’s 4-2 victory.

Things were so friendly between the Ottawa Senators and the Mighty Ducks on Friday morning that Senators’ General Manager Pierre Gauthier got a cake and a happy send-off as he cleaned out his Duck office. He was the Ducks’ assistant general manager until Monday.

By the end of the Ducks’ 4-2 victory Friday night, Duck Coach Ron Wilson and Senator Coach Dave Allison were going at it in a couple of heated shouting matches after Ottawa’s Dennis Vial repeatedly went after Paul Kariya, the Ducks’ pint-sized star.

Round One ended with Allison, coach for less than a month, mocking Wilson from his bench as Wilson called Vial’s actions “an . . . joke.” They went at it once more in the final minute of a game marked by 136 penalty minutes, 83 by the Senators.

Vial got four minutes for roughing, a 10-minute misconduct and a 10-minute game misconduct for a total of 24 penalty minutes with 1:23 left.

“Tonight’s game was my first experience playing in the East Coast Hockey League, because that’s what it was--sending someone out to hurt somebody,” Wilson said. “They sent Dennis Vial to get Paul Kariya and our goaltender. When we made it 4-2, that’s when they tried to hurt our two or three best players. Maybe I could understand if we played in the same division.

“Vial is what, 6-3, 290 fat pounds, trying to get a guy 5-9. That’s really embarrassing. They played a hard game, then that . . . happened.”

The Senators have won only once in their last 19 games, and the Ducks won their second game in a row after ending a nine-game winless streak with a victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Kariya had three points--including his 22nd goal of the season--and has seven points in the last two games and 42 in 33 games.

Mikhail Shtalenkov started a third consecutive game in goal for the Ducks and has started seven of the last nine, leaving Guy Hebert, ostensibly the No. 1 goalie, to sit and wait his turn.

“It’s just a situation right now where Mike has the hot hand,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “Who’s to say in two weeks it’s not going to be back to Guy?”

Shtalenkov made 25 saves against Ottawa, shutting them out until the third, when the Ducks’ 3-0 lead shrunk to 3-2. Their propensity for third-period folds showed again, when they gave up goals to Phil Bourque and Kerry Huffman.

But Kariya’s speed helped give them some desperately needed breathing room. With the Senators on yet another power play, defenseman Jaroslav Modry lost the puck out of the zone and Kariya chased it down, passing to Krygier for a short-handed goal to make the score 4-2 with 4:50 left in the game.

The Ducks had taken a 3-0 lead in the second period when Kariya, Oleg Tverdovsky and Bobby Dollas scored in a span of 2:27.

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Duck Notes

Coach Ron Wilson is the front runner to coach the U.S. team in next summer’s World Cup--formerly known as the Canada Cup--especially now that New Jersey General Manager Lou Lamoriello has agreed to be the team’s GM. Lamoriello coached Wilson at Providence College in the 1970s. “The chemistry between Lou Lamoriello and Ron Wilson sure looks good to me,” said Art Berglund, director of national teams for USA Hockey. “Obviously, Ron would be a leading candidate. He knows our program, he’s worked in our program, he’s played in our program. It’s speculative for now, but that choice sure looks good on paper to me.”

If Wilson coaches the team, he’d miss the first week or so of Duck training camp in September, but General Manager Jack Ferreira said he wouldn’t object. Lamoriello said officials from USA Hockey, the NHL and the NHL Players Assn. will discuss the selection next month. “It would be a tremendous honor if I’m asked,” said Wilson, who coached the U.S. in the 1994 World Championships and is one of only two current NHL coaches who hold U.S. citizenship (the Islanders’ Mike Milbury is the other). It would also be a point in his favor when it’s time to select the U.S. Olympic coach for 1998, when NHL players will compete for the first time.

Defenseman David Karpa returned after an eight-game absence, replacing Milos Holan in the lineup. . . . Linesman Brad Lazarowich left the ice for the last two minutes of the game after being hit in the face with a stick on a faceoff.