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It’s Still Duck Season

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

With two minutes left, the ovation began. At one minute, the roar rose another step. And as the crowd at the Pond triumphantly counted down the final seconds Tuesday, the Mighty Ducks converged on goalie Guy Hebert, who might have been the calmest guy in the building.

It was the most dramatic moment in franchise history, but the Ducks made sure they took almost all the drama out of the decisive seventh game, beating the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-0, in front of 17,174 to become the seventh team in NHL history to win its first Stanley Cup playoff series.

“This is what the playoffs are all about,” said defenseman Dave Karpa, who scored only two goals all season but had a goal and an assist Tuesday. “There can be a different hero any night. Paul [Kariya] and Teemu [Selanne] carried us all along. They’re great players. Game 7 or not, they’re going to get free.”

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Last in the NHL nearly two months into the season, the Ducks are one of the final eight teams in the playoffs.

They will play the Detroit Red Wings in the best-of-seven conference semifinals beginning Friday in Detroit.

The Ducks came back from the brink to beat Phoenix, surviving sudden-death overtime to win Game 6 in Phoenix, then decking the Coyotes in Game 7.

The Ducks did their best not to let it become a dramatic finish. Hebert made 31 saves for the first playoff shutout of his career, never facing a more dangerous shot than the one Keith Tkachuk rang off the left post in the first period.

“We fought 82 games to get home-ice advantage, and we took it,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We’ve been in two elimination games, and we’re 2-0.”

Phoenix was trying to live to play another day after losing forward Jeremy Roenick to a knee injury in Game 6.

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Roenick had come as close to smothering Paul Kariya as anyone can, but even though the Coyotes tried to replace Roenick’s speed and physical defense, they couldn’t.

Roenick’s half-joking advice to those who inherited his assignment: “Close your eyes and cross your fingers. If he gets to the red line with a lot of speed, you can be in a lot of trouble.”

That turned out to be an understatement.

If Kariya’s overtime goal in Game 6 off Teemu Selanne’s long, high flip pass was the equivalent of a long bomb in football, he made a play in Game 7 that was the closest thing there is in hockey to a kickoff return for a touchdown.

It was a length-of-the-ice sprint with the puck that started behind his own net and didn’t end until he was on the doorstep of the Coyotes’ goal.

Kariya left Dallas Drake around the blue line, raced up the right-wing boards, then went around defenseman Teppo Numminen as easily as a pylon as he swooped in on goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Kariya’s shot bounced back in front of the net, and center Steve Rucchin was there to put in the rebound for a 2-0 lead 3:12 into the second period.

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“It was important for Paul and Teemu to use this as a springboard, to, I don’t know, greatness,” Wilson said.

Phoenix held the Ducks without a shot for five minutes after that, but then Joe Sacco, with the Ducks from the beginning of franchise history, swept in on a rebound and scored for a 3-0 lead that seemed insurmountable 8:19 into the second.

“It was a good celebration, but not too much,” Sacco said. “We’re still looking ahead to the next round.”

Neither team had believed the game could be won in the first 10 minutes, but both felt certain it could be lost that quickly.

The Ducks opened the game with an aggressive forechecking strategy, and it paid off early as they pressured the Phoenix defensemen.

It was the persistence and energy of the fourth line--Sean Pronger, Ken Baumgartner and Richard Park--that set up a Duck goal only 3:11 into the game with a series of big hits and scrambling plays that kept the puck in Phoenix’s end.

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When they finally pried the puck free, defenseman Dmitri Mironov sent it over to Karpa, who one-timed a shot from the point that beat Khabibulin to the far side of the net.

Only 4 1/2 minutes into the game, it looked as if the Ducks had a 2-0 lead when Selanne put the puck in the net after Kariya stole it on the forecheck.

But once more, the NHL’s controversial use of video review to enforce “zero-tolerance” of the man-in-the-crease rule led to a disallowed goal--the fifth of the series for a crease violation.

Replays showed that Rucchin was in the crease, even if he was pushed by Phoenix defenseman Murray Baron.

For once, it was a decision that didn’t matter.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NHL PLAYOFFS

MIGHTY DUCKS vs. PHOENIX

Ducks win series, 4-3

* Game 1: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 2: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 3: Coyotes, 4-1

* Game 4: Coyotes, 2-0

* Game 5: Coyotes, 5-2

* Game 6: Mighty Ducks, 3-2 (OT)

* Game 7: Mighty Ducks, 3-0

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