Ducks Gain the Edge, 4-3

The Mighty Ducks are home free.

The first Stanley Cup playoff game in Duck history will be played next week on home ice at the Pond after the Ducks clinched fourth place in the Western Conference with a 4-3 victory over San Jose Friday in their final game of the regular season.

“We came through big time,” said Coach Ron Wilson, already focusing on a possible matchup against Phoenix. “We came storming across the finish line.”

That they did, with only three losses in their final 23 games: How’s that for a home stretch?

The game against the Sharks was a lark that turned scary. A four-goal lead turned into one, and goalie Guy Hebert was hurt at the end of the game, suffering what initially was thought to be a sprained neck when a Shark barreled into him as he made the final, crucial saves to hold off San Jose’s furious effort to force overtime.

“I’ll consult my personal doctor,” Hebert joked as he iced the back of his neck after the game. (He has seen doctors for fatigue in recent weeks.)

Hebert said the incident was “freakish” and his neck felt “tight,” but he skated off on his own after getting up out of the crease, where he was attended to by the Ducks’ trainer and other medical personnel.

The Ducks’ best-of-seven conference quarterfinal series will begin at the Pond--most likely Wednesday--in an arena where they haven’t lost since Feb. 2, a streak of 14 games.

“Our only goal was just win the game and get the home ice,” said Teemu Selanne, who scored his 51st goal of the season.

“We’re so much better at home. With our fans behind us, we have so much jump.”

The Coyotes finished the season with 83 points, two fewer than the Ducks, and helped them clinch fourth by beating Edmonton, 6-2, on Friday.

That means the Oilers can finish with no more than 83 points by beating Vancouver tonight. St. Louis can finish with 83 if it wins at Detroit on Sunday.

The Coyotes would win a tiebreaker with either Edmonton or St. Louis because the Coyotes would have more wins.

Wilson, remembering an old tradition in Winnipeg when the Jets played there, is already calling for what is known as a “White-Out” at the Pond for the first game.

“I want all our fans to wear white,” Wilson said. “Everybody who wants us to win the Stanley Cup, wear white.”

He might be stealing a trick from his opponent--Phoenix is the former Winnipeg franchise, and team officials there are hoping for a White-Out too, creating an imposing effect some players have called “White Noise.”

The Ducks’ victory over San Jose was hardly the laugher it started out to be.

Their 4-0 first period lead all but vanished when the Sharks scored three times in the second--goals by Greg Hawgood, Viktor Kozlov and Shean Donovan.

The remarkably loyal crowd of 17,442--the Sharks’ 38th sellout in 41 games despite a dismal season--kept the Sharks fighting to play the role of spoiler.

The way the Ducks started the game, it looked as if it was becoming chase-the-statistics night.

“When it was 4-0, I wasn’t comfortable with it,” Wilson said.

Caution was called for.

San Jose threw a scare into the Ducks, but at the outset, it had been all Anaheim.

Teemu Selanne--who scored his 50th goal Wednesday with an empty-netter in the final seconds against the Kings--scored his 51st goal 4:27 into the game with the Ducks on a power play, breaking Kariya’s club record of 50, set last season.

Rookie defenseman Dan Trebil scored the Ducks’ second goal, and then it was Kariya’s turn.

He fell one point short of 100, finishing with 99 after two goals Friday.