There’s No Slowing Selanne

There’s another Selanne in the world now, and somebody should stop the Mighty Ducks before they go try to fit the infant with skates.

Teemu Selanne missed one game and hadn’t skated for three days after going back to Winnipeg for the birth of his first child, but he returned Sunday with an exuberant three-goal performance in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over San Jose at the Pond.

So Selanne hands out cigars, and Duck fans throw him hats.

“I was thinking before the game it would be nice to score one goal for him,” said Selanne, whose son, born Friday, is named Eemil Ilmari Selanne. “I was tired, but I was so excited I didn’t realize I was tired.”

It was the second hat trick of Selanne’s season and the ninth of his career. But it was only the second in Duck history, and the first since Terry Yake scored three goals against the New York Rangers on Oct. 19, 1993, in the franchise’s sixth game.

Selanne, traded to the Ducks from Winnipeg on Feb. 7, 2 1/2 weeks before the baby was due, left on a red-eye flight after Wednesday night’s game against Boston and didn’t sleep again until 7 a.m. Friday after his fiancee, Sirpa, gave birth in the wee hours Friday morning.

“I think the game here against Boston, I was thinking labor more than hockey,” he said.

After a big, happy dinner with friends Friday night, he got only four hours sleep before flying back to Anaheim for Sunday afternoon’s game.

“As soon as he walked in the dressing room, you could tell he was on such a high,” said defenseman Jason York, whose long pass sprung Selanne out on a breakaway for his second goal with 3:25 left in the first period. “He was giving us the play-by-play of the baby being born. Then he played so great. He was on such a high, the momentum of the birth kept him going, I guess.”

Said Paul Kariya: “He was just brimming with enthusiasm, telling stories about the baby. He was pretty up. When the game started, he had really good jump right away. He was exploding off for those goals.”

Selanne’s first goal came 10:17 into the game when defenseman Bobby Dollas threw the puck toward the net from the far edge of the left circle. Selanne cut hard and fast to the net and knocked the puck past San Jose goalie Chris Terreri.

“It’s like passing to Gretzky; you know there’s a good chance it will be a point,” Dollas said. “He drives to the net and you know he’s going to create something. Teemu’s over 200 pounds, with lightning speed, plus he finds holes. He’s pretty hard to stop. And not too many guys can take three days off from skating and look like they haven’t missed a beat.”

Selanne’s first two goals came with the Ducks and Sharks skating four-on-four in the penalty-filled early part of the game.

Four on four only means more open ice for Selanne to use his speed, and he made the Sharks pay.

He scored his third goal 1:07 into the second period, setting up near the left post and taking a cross-ice pass from Shaun Van Allen near the right wing boards.

The remarkable thing is Selanne easily could have had four or five goals. Terreri sprawled to stop him on a breakaway with his outstretched left arm in the first five minutes of the game, and he got a great chance off a pass from Alex Hicks in the second period but couldn’t quite put a shot on goal.

Selanne also had an assist on the game-winning goal, scored by Mike Sillinger at 10:35 of the second when Todd Krygier knocked the puck away from Terreri after the goalie went behind the net to play out. Sillinger drove to the net and knocked Krygier’s pass into the open net, breaking a 23-game goal drought.

That made the score 4-1, and the Sharks, who have the second-worst record in the NHL, made the Ducks nervous by scoring two more goals against Guy Hebert, who wasn’t sharp. Craig Janney cut the lead to 4-3 at 1:01 of the third, but the Sharks couldn’t catch the Ducks--especially not Selanne.

Duck Notes

Defenseman Milos Holan remains stable and continues to do well after undergoing a bone marrow transplant Wednesday, team physician Craig Milhouse said after speaking to Holan’s wife, Irena. “No problems at all,” Milhouse said. “It’s tough, but he’s holding his own.” Holan is asking team personnel to wait to visit until after the difficult first few weeks are past. “One of the side effects is mouth sores, so he can’t talk,” Milhouse said.

San Jose’s Andrei Nazarov received a match penalty after gouging Duck defenseman Randy Ladouceur in the eyes with his fingers during a first-period fight. . . . The Ducks’ Todd Ewen, who had three fights and 27 penalty minutes, was assessed an automatic game misconduct for instigating a fight with Jim Kyte in the second period.