Ducks Are No Longer Worst Team in West

At last, they’re not last.

With their third victory in a row and their fifth in six games, the Mighty Ducks moved from the bottom of the Western Conference standings Wednesday with a 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay in front of an announced crowd of 15,838 at the Pond.

The Lightning recently replaced the Ducks as owner of the NHL’s worst record, and by winning the Ducks moved ahead of Phoenix in the Western Conference.

The Ducks flirted with their third shutout in six games and then with a disheartening tie before Teemu Selanne scored the winning goal with less than five minutes to play. Selanne added an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left.

With the score tied, 1-1, after Tampa Bay broke the shutout midway through the third period, the Ducks’ Steve Rucchin controlled a faceoff and got the puck to Paul Kariya in the slot. Kariya back-handed it away from the net to an open Selanne, whose shot beat out-stretched Tampa Bay goalie Rick Tabaracci at 15:43.

The goal was Selanne’s 14th of the season--he later added his 15th--and gives him points in 12 of his last 13 games. With the assist, Kariya extended his point streak to seven games and he has 18 points in 14 games.

“From my viewpoint, it was only going to be a matter of time before they tied it,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “Our star players got us out of it, but they also got us into it with sloppy play on Tampa Bay’s goal.”

Not to be overlooked is the play of goalie Guy Hebert, who has given up only nine goals over the last seven games, a 5-1-1 streak for the Ducks. Hebert made 37 saves against the Lightning.

Tampa Bay lost its sixth game in a row and is going through the sort of dismal stretch the Ducks endured in October. Tampa Bay has won only once in its last 12 games, going 1-10-1.

Much the way the Ducks faltered because of injuries to Kariya, Tampa Bay has been hurt badly by injuries.

The team lost goalie Daren Puppa to a herniated disk and Brian Bradley has been sidelined nine games because of a knee injury.

Bradley was in the lineup Wednesday for the first time in five games--all losses, as are the other four games he has sat out.

The Ducks scored the only goal of the first two periods.

Defenseman David Karpa, usually more likely to knock the net off its moorings than to put a puck into it, was one of the team’s big playmakers Wednesday.

Karpa set up the game’s first goal when he threw a point shot at the net that was deflected by Steve Rucchin for a 1-0 lead 1:27 into the second period.

The score stayed that way until halfway through the third period, when Roman Hamrlik ended Guy Hebert’s bid for a third shutout in the last six games by scoring the game-tying goal at 10:35 of the final period. Hamrlik was assisted by Alex Selivanov.