Kariya Is Taking It Personally

The pass was perfect, flipped up and over the opposing defenseman and precisely where Mighty Duck left wing Paul Kariya could reach it without breaking stride.

The race was on, and the Phoenix Coyotes would not win. Kariya had reached top speed by the time Teemu Selanne air-mailed the puck to him along the left-wing boards in overtime Sunday at America West Arena.

Kariya soon left Coyote defenseman Gerald Diduck in a vapor trail and now had only one man to beat. So many times in this Western Conference quarterfinal series, Phoenix goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin had denied Kariya.

This time, Kariya reached the left faceoff circle and unleashed a blistering slap shot that nestled neatly in the net.

Khabibulin lifted his glove a moment too late, then slumped in defeat. The Ducks mobbed Kariya in celebration.

Final score: Ducks 3, Coyotes 2.

Kariya exhaled deeply as the knot of reporters around him loosened at game’s end Sunday.

“Big, big goal,” he said. “I haven’t played that well in the series. It was kind of nice to contribute something to the team. I said after Game 5 that myself, personally, and our line cost us the game. It was nice to get a little redemption today.”

Kariya’s overtime goal was his second of the game and the fifth of the series, so it’s difficult to imagine him in subpar form.

Still, he had been held without a goal since the first period of Game 3. The Coyotes had taken a 3-2 series lead largely by suffocating him and Selanne.

But Phoenix lost track of Kariya early in the second period, and his power-play goal gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead, their first edge since Game 2.

His first goal was pure determination, banging home a rebound from the right wing. His second goal was a testimony to speed and skill.

“The thing is, when Paul has a chance to shoot, there’s a good chance he’ll score,” Selanne said. “He’s got an unbelievable shot.”

Selanne could tell the frustration of being shut out in Games 4 and 5 was beginning to take its toll on Kariya, his roommate on the road.

“We talked about it a little bit,” Selanne said. “Paul knows what he has to do. He’s so hungry to win. It was a good example tonight of how hard he wants to compete and score big goals.”

At 22, playing in his third season in the NHL, Kariya has assumed his place among the league’s elite players.

Despite missing the season’s first 11 games because of an abdominal injury, and two more because of a concussion, Kariya was the NHL’s third-leading scorer behind Mario Lemieux and Selanne, with 44 goals and 99 points.

“I played with Mario when I was a young kid in Pittsburgh and again this year,” said Duck defenseman J.J. Daigneault, acquired from the Penguins in a March trade. “Mario has the most raw talent of anybody I’ve ever seen. . . .

“It’s [Kariya’s] time to take over. [Saturday] night, in Mario’s [final game before retiring], he told Eric Lindros it was time for him to take over.

“But I think it’s time for Paul too. He’s going to be one of the superstars for years to come.”