Kariya Cuts Down Sabres in Overtime, 3-2

Mighty Duck forward Paul Kariya was definitely bloodied but unbowed in overtime at the Pond on Friday night, when he scored the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over Buffalo with his lip still bleeding hardly a minute after taking a stick to the face.

Referee Don Van Massenhoven didn’t call Brad May for cutting Kariya in the face early in overtime, but he made up for it shortly later, when he sent Buffalo’s Mike Wilson to the penalty box for cross-checking Teemu Selanne, giving the Ducks a rare overtime power play.

Kariya took a pass from Selanne and beat Dominik Hasek with a slap shot from the point that deflected off Buffalo defenseman Garry Galley with 2:57 left in overtime, giving the Ducks a comeback victory. They closed to seven points behind Toronto for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Selanne, who has at least a point in every game he has played in a Duck uniform, extending his scoring streak to 12 games.

It was a game of controversial calls and no-calls, and Buffalo had complaints about a disallowed goal in the third.

The Sabres appeared to score the go-ahead goal with seven minutes left in regulation, only to watch Van Massenhoven rule there was no goal after a video review, saying Rob Conn directed the puck into the net with his body after being hit by a shot. It would be a legal goal if the puck simply deflected off him and into the net, but the call was apparently based on Conn turning toward the net as the puck came off him.

Buffalo led, 2-0, after two periods on two goals by Matthew Barnaby, a tough guy who was a tough guy for the Ducks to stop. With 277 penalty minutes, Barnaby is far better known for his fists than his goal-scoring.

Nevertheless, he knocked the puck into the top of the net at 15:27 of the first period, beating Guy Hebert, who had already sprawled on his stomach to stop Barnaby’s first attempt to shove the puck into the net.

In the second period, Barnaby skated around Duck defenseman Randy Ladouceur and threw the puck at Hebert, who partially blocked it with his left leg but watched it go in between his pads at 14:23.

Hebert started in goal for the first time in five games and only the second time in the past nine. It was his first opportunity in a while to regain Coach Ron Wilson’s confidence after his most recent injury, a neck strain, and he did little for his cause. Neither of Buffalo’s goals were pretty.

For the third game in a row, the Ducks were held scoreless through the first two periods. They didn’t put a puck past Hasek until 4:18 of the third with the Ducks on a power play. Steve Rucchin scored his 15th goal of the season on his second whack at a rebound, breaking his stick against a defender’s stick in the process.

Defenseman Bobby Dollas tied the score, 2-2, at 8:18 of the final period when his shot deflected in off a Buffalo player and perhaps Hasek as well. Hasek made 45 saves, but it was one too few.

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Duck Notes

Buffalo’s Charlie Huddy, who played for the Kings from 1991-95, appeared in his 1,000th NHL game Friday, becoming the 113th player in NHL history to reach that milestone. “I look at all of the players who have gone through the NHL, so few ever get to that number,” said Huddy, 36. “To be in a class with those who have gotten to 1,000 is a pretty big milestone for me.” There are a couple of other impressive numbers in Huddy’s career: Five Stanley Cups in Edmonton and a career plus-minus rating of plus-248. . . . Another former King, Randy Burridge, didn’t play because of a left knee injury.