Kariya Lines Up for Victory Over Sharks

Without Paul Kariya in the lineup, the Mighty Ducks are a mess. With him, they’re not half bad.

The San Jose Sharks learned that lesson as Kariya scored two of the Ducks’ three power-play goals in a 3-0 victory Saturday before 17,442 at San Jose Arena.

Kariya, who sat out the season’s first 11 games because of an abdominal strain and two more last week because of a concussion, scored in the first and second period as the Ducks dominated the Sharks.

The Ducks are 4-3-2 with Kariya in the lineup, but a dreadful 1-10-2 without him.

“We always knew Paul was going to get back,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “We are a better-than-.500 team with him in the lineup.”

In most respects this perhaps was the Ducks’ best game this season. Certainly, it was their best road game since shutting out Chicago, 2-0, Oct. 9. The Ducks had been 0-5-1 away from the Pond of Anaheim until Saturday.

Although it was only the Ducks’ fifth victory, they showed they were clearly the better team, taking the game to the Sharks for long stretches.

San Jose remained winless in its last six games, falling to 0-5-1, and leads the Ducks by only four points in the battle to escape last place in the Pacific Division.

This victory wasn’t all Kariya’s doing. Linemate Teemu Selanne assisted on the Ducks’ first and third goals to extend his streak to eight consecutive games with a point (three goals, nine assists).

Goaltender Guy Hebert picked up his 10th career shutout, halting the few offensive flurries the Sharks put together.

Hebert didn’t have much to worry about, what with the Ducks on the power play so often and the Sharks seemingly more interested in physical play along the boards. Plus, the Duck penalty-killing unit, which ranks near the bottom of the NHL, was superb.

Hebert seems to have snapped out of whatever bothered him during a sluggish start to the season. He stopped all 25 shots he faced and, although he has played well the past three games, won for the first time in that span.

Like many teams recently, the Sharks seemed bent on shadowing Kariya in hopes of throwing him off his game.

It worked for only a few seconds, then wound up costing the Sharks the game. San Jose’s Tony Granato goaded Kariya into a roughing penalty 14 seconds into the game. But referee Stephen Walkom also sent Granato to the penalty box for roughing, setting the tone for a penalty-filled game.

Instead of trying to match slashes, shoves and punches, the Ducks stuck to their finesse game and let the Sharks take dumb penalties.

And that set up power-play opportunities for the Ducks, not normally their strength.

Kariya converted at the 4:57 mark of the first period, taking a cross-ice pass from Selanne. Kariya got help from Shark defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson, who deflected the shot past goalie Chris Terreri.

In the second period, Kariya beat Terreri with a shot from the high slot for a 2-0 lead at the 3:09 mark. About seven minutes later, Selanne fed Warren Rychel, standing alone at the left post, for the Ducks’ third goal.