This Victory Has Teeth --Kariya’s

Paul Kariya has given so much to the Mighty Ducks in two seasons. Let’s see, there’s skill, goals and assists, respectability, goals and assists, an identity, oh yeah, and goals and assists.

He gave them something new Friday.

Three teeth.

It was a big sacrifice, but it wasn’t as if he had a say in the matter. At game’s end, he couldn’t speak because of the injury.

Kariya and Joe Nieuwendyk of the Dallas Stars got tangled up in the neutral zone early in the second period at the Pond. Their sticks went up, Nieuwendyk’s a bit too high.

His upper lip bloodied, Kariya’s fate was to be far better than Nieuwendyk’s, however.

In a moment, Kariya continued to play. Nieuwendyk, given a five-minute major for high sticking and a game misconduct, did not.

“I saw Paul look up, so I knew he was all right,” Nieuwendyk said. “You don’t want to see anybody get hurt. I figured it was just some chipped or missing teeth.”

Soon enough, the game swung in the Ducks’ favor. Three Duck goals in a dramatic, 5-minute 3-second blitz broke open a tight, 1-1, game, turning it into a 5-3 victory.

Steve Rucchin scored at the 4:40 mark of the second period. Teemu Selanne scored 27 seconds later. Joe Sacco added the third goal at 8:25, three seconds after the penalty expired but too late for Brent Fedyk, who served the penalty, to join the play.

And there is hope for the Ducks--at least for another day.

Kariya, who later assisted on Selanne’s second goal of the game, continued to impress teammates and Coach Ron Wilson with his gritty play.

“He’s doing the little things,” Wilson said. “He’s blocking shots. He’s taking hits. He’s a complete player now.”

It would have made for a better story if those were the first three teeth Kariya had lost, but they were a bridge. Later, Kariya was asked to speak with reporters, but declined because he was unable to form coherent words.

“I think Paul keeps surprising people,” Duck goaltender Guy Hebert said. “It’s not a surprise to the 25 players in this room how tough the little guy can be.”

Hebert noticed the Stars seemed to be bent on playing a physical game against Kariya. He also watched Kariya roll with the punches. And sticks in the mouth.

“Paul kept his cool and beat them on the scoreboard,” Hebert said.

His third-period assist, on a three-on-one break with Selanne on the right wing and Anatoli Semenov in the middle, gave him a point in seven consecutive games (four goals, eight assists).

Kariya, 21, remained two goals short of reaching the 50-goal milestone and becoming the 16 player in NHL history to do so before his 22nd birthday. Vancouver’s Pavel Bure is the last to accomplish the feat, with 60 goals in 1993.