Ducks, Selanne Head Toward a Fast Finish

The Mighty Ducks are on their way to lots of places they’ve never been. But before they go, Teemu Selanne visited a place he has been before.

With 37 seconds left in the Ducks’ 4-1 victory over the Kings at the Pond Wednesday and the Kings’ net empty, Paul Kariya put his head down and chased down a puck in open ice.

Selanne caught up and sprinted toward the Kings’ net, and Kariya passed to him for Selanne’s 50th goal of the season, inspiring a hail of hats from the stands, not for a hat trick, merely as the fans’ best attempt to show their appreciation.

“It was a great play by Paul,” said Selanne, who joined Keith Tkachuk as the only players to score 50 so far this season. “He really wanted to do that. . . . I heard him and Jari [Kurri] talking before, saying they were going to set me up.”

It was hardly a first for Selanne, who scored 76 goals in 1992-93 to set an NHL rookie record. But it was a first of sorts for the Ducks--the first time they’ve had consecutive 50-goal scorers, after Kariya did it last season in the final game.

Kariya, Selanne teased, may never have skated faster.

“It was pretty much full out,” Kariya said. “I’m glad Teemu went hard too, or else I’d have had to turn back and delay for him.”

Still ahead for the Ducks, of course, is the Stanley Cup playoffs. And another piece of uncharted territory: Their first winning season. They are two games over .500 for the first time in their four-year history at 35-33-13, and have only one game left.

The Ducks might not have overwhelmed the Kings the way they would have liked to, but they are still alive for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

If the Ducks beat or tie San Jose in their final game Friday, they’ll be in the favorable 4-5 matchup, though their opponent is still uncertain.

And if the Ducks win and Edmonton does anything less than win its final two games, the Ducks will have home-ice advantage by finishing fourth.

That means they would play the first two playoff games at the Pond, where they haven’t lost since Feb. 2, finishing the season with a 14-game unbeaten streak.

The Kings, unfortunately, are going a few places they have been before. For them, all that is ahead is a spot in the NHL draft lottery and a chance to watch some of their own play in the World Championships.

“We didn’t get any breaks,” said King Coach Larry Robinson, who complained that the first two goals shouldn’t have counted. “The big difference was they’re going for home-ice, and we didn’t have anything at stake, and the game was called accordingly.”

Goalie Guy Hebert returned for the Ducks after playing sparingly recently and looked sharp, making 31 saves.

Until the final minute, Kariya and Selanne were held without a point, and the Ducks suffered a power-play outage, going 0 for 7.

“That wasn’t our best effort,” Kariya said. “Certainly our line. We were awful.”

Said Selanne: “Our line was just horrible.”

Instead, defenseman Dave Karpa led the Ducks with a goal, a big save and a fight. Dmitri Mironov and Brian Bellows scored the Ducks’ other goals, and Ken Baumgartner had two fights and two assists.

“I can’t trade a fight or an assist for a goal, so I can’t get the Gordie Howe hat trick [a goal, a fight and an assist],” Baumgartner said.

The Kings’ Ray Ferraro took the angry young man prize, getting a game misconduct for continuing to fuss after being called for tripping Bellows.