Ducks’ Oksiuta Makes Most of Second Chance

The way Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson figured it, Roman Oksiuta was stealing money. Given Oksiuta’s meager production of five goals and 11 points in 25 games and his $600,000 salary, that was close to grand larceny.

“He went a month where he didn’t want to work,” Wilson said. “He went a month where he didn’t sweat a drop.”

Wilson wasn’t about to play Oksiuta under those conditions. No work meant no play.

Oksiuta failed to show up for treatments on a nagging groin injury, according to Wilson. When he was fit enough to practice, he was lazy and lacked the hard-nosed defensive commitment Wilson requires.

At last, a summit meeting was called with Wilson, Oksiuta and Oksiuta’s agent, Rich Winter, present.

Wilson explained the situation: Oksiuta had to put in more effort in order to return to the lineup. Winter quickly agreed.

“His agent was even mad at him,” Wilson said.

It was then up to Oksiuta to work his way out of Wilson’s doghouse and into the lineup. It took roughly three weeks and a number of injuries, but Oksiuta finally got the call Saturday in Edmonton.

After being scratched in all but five of 33 games, Oksiuta created numerous scoring chances and played sound defense. He suffered from fatigue the next night in Calgary, but it was tough to find a Duck who shined in a 6-1 loss to the Flames.

Wednesday, Oksiuta broke through with his finest all-around game since . . .

Well, his last goal was Nov. 17 against St. Louis and his last assist was Nov. 6 against Montreal. Wednesday, he had one of each, helping the Ducks to a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Pond.

“It was an important game,” Oksiuta said. “It’s been hard for me the last couple of months sitting in the press box [during games]. I want to try now to work hard and keep going and maybe the team will make the playoffs.”

Certainly, any help Oksiuta can provide on offense will take a great weight off the shoulders of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.

Oksiuta’s goal was nothing spectacular, just a simple one-timer after a nice cross-ice pass from Jari Kurri that gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead at the 16:18 mark of the first period.

“I’ll have to go home and see it on TV,” said Oksiuta, who also assisted on Kurri’s third-period goal. “I got a pretty good game. . . . We’ll see. I’m just trying to play my game and helping the team defensively.

“I just always wanted to play.”