Jomphe Energizes the Ducks

Thirteen seconds, two brilliant goals and one huge momentum swing.

Yes, J.F. Jomphe scored the fastest two goals in Mighty Duck history Friday night at the Pond.

Yes, it was the first two-goal game of his career.

Yes, those were only his third and fourth goals this season.

But Jomphe’s two goals in a 13-second span in the second period of a 5-4 victory over the Washington Capitals also helped save the Ducks from themselves.

For the first 20 minutes Friday, the Ducks appeared to be a team with one finger on the self-destruct button.

They gave the puck away. Their goaltending wasn’t so hot. They seemed tired, a step slower than the Capitals. They didn’t seem to match up to the competition for the second consecutive game.

Suddenly, the Ducks seemed to be turning south. Friday’s game looked a lot like Wednesday’s 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Neither game appeared to resemble any of the Ducks’ performances during their recent 6-2-2 run.

Dmitri Mironov kept the Ducks close with two goals, but they still trailed, 3-2, and desperately needed a jolt as seconds ticked by late in the second period.

Jomphe flipped the switch marked “high voltage,” and the Ducks seized the game.

Jari Kurri beat the Capital defense and slipped a pass to Jomphe, who was camped out alone at the right post.

Jomphe took a step back, waited for Washington goalie Jim Carey to make a move, then slipped a shot over the sprawling Carey and under the crossbar for the tying goal at the 17:51 mark of the second period.

“Usually, I get nervous, but I just took my time and went top shelf,” Jomphe said. “It was pretty cool.”

With the Pond crowd of 17,174 still roaring, Jomphe accepted a pass from Garry Valk, raced down the left wing and put a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle past Carey for the go-ahead goal at the 18:04 mark.

“We had a slow start, only two shots to start, then we were down, 3-1, whoops,” Jomphe said. “So it was good. Garry Valk started the play. He chipped the puck to me, so it was really a two-on-one. And I just beat the defenseman.”

Jomphe’s goals beat the previous fastest goals by one second. Joe Sacco and Terry Yake scored 14 seconds apart at Edmonton on Feb. 13, 1994.

They also turned the game in the Ducks’ favor.

They still had to weather a penalty shot that sailed wide from Peter Bondra less than a minute later.

But like Jomphe’s goals, Bondra’s miss seemed to energize the Ducks.

“J.F. came up huge,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “He doubled his scoring output in 13 seconds.”

Certainly, it was Jomphe’s fastest pair of goals in the NHL.

“Maybe in Pee Wee or Bantam I scored that fast, but never in the NHL,” he said. “It was pretty exciting.”

Jomphe’s last goal before Friday was a week ago in a 1-1 tie with the Buffalo Sabres. But his last goal before that was Nov. 15 against the Dallas Stars.

“It’s hard to score in the NHL,” he said. “You have to be a star like Paul [Kariya] or Teemu [Selanne] to score lots of goals, so I’ve been trying to do other things like play well on the penalty-kill and check well.”

Just then Selanne walked by.

“Tell them it’s just your normal game,” he said, laughing.