Kariya Cannot Break Ducks’ Losing Habits

Paul Kariya’s mere presence can change the complexion of a game, but he couldn’t add any beauty to the Mighty Ducks’ record Wednesday when he made his season debut after recovering from an abdominal injury.

The Ducks lost their eighth consecutive game, this one a 6-3 defeat against Vancouver in front of 16,232 at the Pond.

It was the second below-capacity crowd in a row after 40 consecutive sellouts dating back to early last season.

The loss extended the franchise record for consecutive losses and tied the record of nine games in a row without a victory. The Ducks are 1-9-2, the only victory coming in Chicago, 2-0, on Oct. 9.

Kariya injected a liveliness that the Ducks have missed, taking six shots, creating plenty of scoring chances and jump-starting the power play. His timing was a bit off, and he might have been a tad slower than usual, but he didn’t shy away from contact and his playmaking skill was as evident as ever.

“He picked up our emotions. Guys were slapping each other on the back,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “I thought Paul played very well. Obviously, he didn’t have his timing. He missed a few opportunities. The one I remember most was with the nearly-open net in the first period. He went to his backhand and the puck rolled off his stick.”

Kariya said the injury “is fine,” but said his timing isn’t.

“I’m a ways away,” he said. “My game shape should pick up quickly. It’s going to take a little time, even with Teemu [Selanne]. We’re back to when we first played together, looking for each other instead of just reacting. We just all have to keep it simple until the chemistry is there.”

The Ducks have to pull out of their tailspin soon or their chances of making the playoffs will shrink daily. Now is clearly their best opportunity, with Kariya back and a schedule that includes only three road games between now and early December.

Progress? Well, it was the first time in six games the Ducks have scored more than one goal.

Defensively, it was more of the same.

The Ducks pulled to 4-3 on with 2:19 left when Roman Oksiuta backhanded a rebound past goalie Corey Hirsch.

That was as close as the Ducks got, though, because Trevor Linden skated around Jari Kurri to score his second goal of the game with 1:07 left and Russ Courtnall added an empty-netter with 48 seconds remaining.

Young defensemen have been getting much of the criticism this season but it wasn’t a good night for veterans David Karpa and Bobby Dollas. Karpa took some bad penalties, and Dollas was beaten to the net by David Roberts on a goal that gave the Canucks a 4-2 lead at 5:15 of the third.

“It’s so easy to point out our young defensemen making mistakes,” Wilson said. “But that wasn’t the case, it was the veteran defensemen. If that keeps up, maybe we’ll go with the young guys on defense.”

The score was tied, 2-2, before Linden’s goal at 12:38 of the second period. It was the first goal of the season for Linden, the Canucks’ high-scoring captain. Vancouver was on a power play with rookie Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei off for cross-checking, and the Ducks allowed Linden too much time and room to wind up for a shot from the left circle that beat goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov.

The Ducks’ start has been too wretched to blame it all on bad luck, but they got their first real stroke of good luck this season in the second period when Warren Rychel scored a short-handed goal, picking up a puck for a breakaway as he came out of the penalty box at the end of a 5-on-3 power play for the Canucks.

It was the first short-hander for the Ducks this season after giving up four--including a club-record three in one game.

Rychel’s goal made the score 2-2, and helped get Karpa off the hook for a bad penalty. Karpa was whistled for dislodging the net--something of a habit of his--with the Ducks were already killing a penalty, giving Vancouver a two-man advantage.

The teams were tied, 1-1, after the first period, playing half of it without referee Blaine Angus, who was taken to the hospital after his nose was broken by an errant stick. Linesman Wayne Bonney took over in the second period, with video goal judge Michel Voyer coming on as a linesman.

Pavel Bure gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 10:23 into the game, and though the Ducks tied the score twice, they never led, and the line of Kariya, Selanne and Kurri was held to one assist, by Kurri.

“Kariya’ good, but he’s not Mario Lemieux, you know,” Bure said. “We did a good job on those guys-- Selanne and Kurri and Kariya. Corey played an exceptional game.”