Ducks Reach Dizzying Heights With a Victory Over Rangers

Now the points are really starting to pile up for Teemu Selanne and the Mighty Ducks.

With a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers in front of 17,174 Friday at the Pond, the Ducks tied the longest unbeaten streak in club history at seven games and moved into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Western Conference, only three points out of fourth.

Wayne Gretzky, winner of 10 NHL scoring titles, was in the house. But Selanne, a star of another generation, shone brighter, taking over second place in this season’s scoring race from injured Pittsburgh star Jaromir Jagr by scoring two goals and assisting on another.

Gretzky had one point, an assist on Alexander Karpovtsev’s short-handed goal with 2:09 left in the game.

Selanne scored his 40th and 41st goals of the season--the second one an empty-netter with 33 seconds left--and has 89 points, one more than Jagr, on injured reserve because of a groin injury. He is 10 behind Mario Lemieux, who is day-to-day because of a hip flexor.

The Ducks’ Paul Kariya also had a goal--his 33rd--as well as an assist--marking the fifth time in the seven-game unbeaten streak Kariya and Selanne have both had a goal.

“They’ve got two guys that might be among the best two players in the game,” Gretzky said. “They play well off each other, and they work hard. In the first period, it was like we just waited for them to come at us, and against that club you can’t do that.”

Still, it was Ted Drury, an unsung role player, who scored two of the game’s most crucial goals. The Ducks held a 2-1 lead in a tight game before Drury a rifled shot into the net from the wing 1:29 into the third.

“That was a huge goal. It deflated them,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said.

“It was exciting,” said Drury, who has eight goals this season. “If they had tied it, who knows what could have happened in the game?”

Said Selanne: “When a guy like Ted scores a couple of goals, that’s very important for our team.”

Adam Graves scored the Rangers’ first goal, but the goalies kept things close most of the way. The Rangers’ Mike Richter made 22 saves, and the Ducks’ Guy Hebert made 26.

The Ducks are on a hot streak much like last season, but this time they started earlier. They are 5-0-2 in their last seven games, and more impressive, are on 10-1-1 roll at home.

Selanne became the sixth NHL player to reach 40 goals this season when he scored 7:03 into the first, driving hard to the net to take a pass from Steve Rucchin.

At 26, Selanne has scored 40 goals three times in his five NHL seasons, beginning with his spectacular 76-goal rookie season. He also had 40 last season, 24 for Winnipeg and 16 for the Ducks after being traded.

Far more important to the Ducks, Selanne is playing with the same determination that fueled their stretch run last season. As for passing Jagr, “Somebody told me that,” he said. “But I know when I’m playing well, the points and the goals come. Nothing is as important right now as the playoff race, helping the team win.”

Selanne has some punch to go along with his scoring punch, and it showed when he hit Ulf Samuelsson in the head after Samuelsson ran him into the boards. Samuelsson was called for charging and roughing, but Selanne, who snuck in his punches behind the linesman, wasn’t penalized.

Gretzky’s visit elicited some boos, but his presence didn’t bring quite the same electricity to the Pond as it did to the Forum on Thursday.

But there was a sense of the passing of an era, particularly because Jari Kurri plays for the Ducks and his career has been so linked with Gretzky and the Rangers’ Mark Messier. Now, at 36, Kurri is having the least productive season of his career. Kurri’s assist on Drury’s third-period goal gave him 1,368 points, one behind John Bucyk for 11th on the NHL career scoring list.

“Who knows?” Kurri said. “It could be the last time we play in the same game.”