Ducks Get Rooting Interest

The Ducks took care of the hockey team from Texas Friday night, but as for the other two hockey teams from California . . . whatever happened to the all-state good neighbor policy?

The Kings and the San Jose Sharks had chances to aid the Ducks’ back-door quest of a Stanley Cup playoff berth Friday, but no CARE package was delivered.

In Winnipeg, participating in the last regular-season NHL home game in Winnipeg, the Kings played co-star to the Jets’ bittersweet swan song--blowing a 1-0 lead and cooperating to the fullest as the Jets left their fans with one final 5-3 victory to savor.

In San Jose, the best that can be said about the Sharks is that they kept the Calgary Flames under double digits. Final score, as if the details mattered: Calgary 6, San Jose 0.

Thanks for stopping by, guys.

Thanks for nothing.

The loss by the Kings means Winnipeg, the team the Ducks have been chasing for more than a month, is no longer catchable. Win or lose or tie at The Pond on Sunday, the Jets are headed to the playoffs.

The loss by the Sharks means Calgary is also now beyond the reach of the Ducks. Two of the Ducks’ four remaining routes to the postseason just shut down, and the other two could do the same tonight--and there’s not a thing the Ducks can do about it, other than watch and wince.

If Toronto wins or ties at home against Edmonton and Vancouver wins at home against Calgary, the Ducks will end their season at home Sunday, regardless of how many goals Teemu Selanne might pour in against his ex-mates.

Toronto, with 78 points, leads the Ducks by two points with one game to play. One more point and the Maple Leafs, despite a sputtering second half, will be in.

Vancouver, with 77 points, can eliminate the Ducks by finishing with 79. A tie with Calgary tonight would leave the Canucks with 78 points and give the Ducks a reason for playing Sunday. If Vancouver and Anaheim end up with 78 points, the Ducks would advance by virtue of more victories.

Bottom line:

The Ducks need a victory by 10th-place Edmonton, a team with a 30-43-8 record and the second-worst defense in the league, at Toronto or a victory by already-clinched Calgary at still-desperate-and-scratching Vancouver to avoid elimination, which begs the obvious question:

How many fingers can a Mighty Duck cross?

If it does end tonight, with Ron Wilson and his coaching staff staring forlornly at the satellite feed from Canada, eyes glazing over before welling up, it will be a cheaper shot than the slash to the face that left three of Paul Kariya’s teeth scattered on center ice Friday night.

The Ducks can play no better than they have the last month. Look it up--they never have.

In their last 16 games, including the victory over Dallas, the Ducks are 11-3-2.

In their last seven, they are 5-1-1.

They are closing faster than the Red Wings and the Avalanche, but they are paying for their mightily stuck-at-the-gate start--otherwise known as The 1995-96 Mighty Ducks Before Teemu.

Should they have made that trade sooner?

Should they have made more trades?

Could they have made more trades?

Seven of them by Jack Ferreira between the All-Star break and the trading deadline aren’t enough?

As presently constituted, the Ducks are a Stanley Cup playoff-caliber team. They have the ingredients--streaking goaltender, go-to scoring line, body-by-damned scrambling defense. They belong.

The Ducks’ problem is that the NHL’s Western Conference, as presently constituted, isn’t letting them in. Winnipeg hit a rough patch in March, seemed doomed for a free fall, but the lame ducks suddenly toughened up and clinched on Game 81. Vancouver and Toronto hit the skids, both changed head coaches, but both have kept winning often enough to enter their regular-season finales one more victory away from advancement.

Any stretch run of 11-3-2, outside of maybe Ottawa, ought to add up to a season extender. The Ducks needed only minimal help, but consider who had to do the helping Friday--the post-fire sale Kings and the amnesia-stricken (“We fail to recall the playoffs of ’94 and ‘95”) Sharks.

Wilson noted that the Kings “didn’t help us, but it was a 4-3 game (until a late empty-net goal). They must have given it a good try. Not the way the team up north did. Six-nothing.

“The Kings went in there and tried hard. They could have tied it. I’d have loaned them Paul Kariya for one night.”

Now, the best Wilson can do is loan the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers his undiluted loyalty tonight.

“I feel,” Wilson said, “like going up to [Calgary Coach] Pierre Page and going ‘I love you, man.’ ”

Just like in the commercial.

Except the way these final days have gone for the Ducks, Page would then turn to Wilson and inform him, “You’re not getting the eighth Western Conference playoff berth, Ron.”