Ducks Look to Second Line for Goals

The Mighty Ducks know they can count on Teemu Selanne, Jari Kurri and Paul Kariya to score.

The questions are about the second line.

Until Wednesday’s 6-1 exhibition victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of 16,557 at the Pond, none of the four candidates for the second line--Steve Rucchin, Roman Oksiuta, Joe Sacco or Valeri Karpov--had a goal during the exhibition season.

Oksiuta changed that with a hat trick, getting two goals off perfect passes from Selanne. He was credited with a third that went in off the skate of defenseman Corey Foster and also had an assist.

Selanne, invigorated by playing in the World Cup of Hockey and by his pairing with Kurri, his boyhood idol, has been the star of the Ducks’ exhibition season with four goals and four assists in four games--including a goal and two assists Wednesday.

Kurri, 36, has a goal and seven assists in three games.

The World Cup is one factor, because Selanne and Kurri started skating in late July.

“The players who play in the World Cup have more of an advantage in terms of speed,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “They’ve had that month of the tournament, naturally they’re a little quicker. For a lot of players, that carries over.

“Historically, the players from the Canada Cup or World Cup have gone on to have great seasons. They get off to a great start, and sometimes that’s half the battle. It carries over the rest of the season.”

Wilson doesn’t give the inspiration of playing together much credit for Selanne and Kurri’s exhibition season.

“They’re great hockey players,” he said. “Teemu’s scored 70 goals in this league and so has Jari.”

The inspiration should be in the hearts and hands of those lucky enough to be thrown onto a line with Selanne and Kurri in the place ostensibly reserved for Kariya.

Mike Leclerc had two goals last week against the Rangers while playing with them. This time Oksiuta was the lucky lad.

“They’re just two highly skilled players, and we’ve given guys a chance to play with them,” Wilson said. “Tonight it was Roman Oksiuta, and ‘Ox’ is going to finish off those kinds of chances.”

The idea all along has been to try Kurri at center with Selanne and Kariya, who is out while rehabilitating an injured abdominal muscle.

What has to be of concern to the Ducks is the lack of second-line scoring.

No matter how terrific the chemistry is among Kurri, Selanne and eventually Kariya, Wilson won’t be able to keep them together if nobody else is scoring.

“Paul being out could be a little bit of a blessing,” Wilson said. “We know Paul can carry the load with another line. This way we get to see how different combinations work.”

Karpov and Warren Rychel also had goals Wednesday. Glen Murray scored Pittsburgh’s only goal, at 16:25 of the second period.