Speedy Ducks Buck Conventional Wisdom

Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson had the better one-liners. And the better No. 1 line.

Which explains why the Mighty Ducks rallied for a seven-game victory over the more experienced and better-balanced Phoenix Coyotes, capping their splendid Western Conference quarterfinal series Tuesday with a thrilling 3-0 victory at the Pond.

One-line teams shouldn’t be able to win an extended playoff series, certainly not a team with so little postseason experience. The Coyotes had 19 players who had appeared in 46 seventh games, while the Ducks had eight players who had experienced the stomach-churning pressure of a seventh game 23 times--not counting, of course, those who had played imaginary seventh games in their driveways or basements as children.

But when that one line has Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne--and a sturdy two-way center in Steve Rucchin--conventional wisdom counts for little.

Their speed overwhelmed a largely plodding defense and their creativity kept the Coyotes off balance every time they were on the ice. With Kariya and Selanne occupying their thoughts, the Coyotes were taken away from their game, which at its best was a power game that featured forwards driving hard to the net and quick counterattacks. When Kariya and Selanne had the puck or got it deep into the Coyotes’ zone, those counterattacks became harder to mount.

Even the presence of Coyote forward Jeremy Roenick, who tore cartilage in his left knee Sunday, probably wouldn’t have made a difference Tuesday against Kariya and company.

Not since Boston Bruin defenseman Bobby Orr picked apart defenses with surgical precision has the NHL seen many plays like the goal Kariya set up for Rucchin Tuesday on a brilliant rink-length rush that left two defenders flailing at the breeze in his wake. Rucchin finished the play by poking the puck past a helpless Nikolai Khabibulin, becoming only the fourth Duck forward to record a goal in this series, after Kariya, Selanne and Brian Bellows.

Kariya, whose overtime goal Sunday at Phoenix sent the series back to Anaheim for its dramatic conclusion, led all scorers with six goals and nine points, establishing himself beyond question as a clutch player. Anyone can win a Game 7 when it’s played on a neighborhood pond; winning it with the season and a second-round playoff berth on the line is something else.

“It’s the most fun part of the game when you get to these moments,” Wilson said. “Paul did something Mark Messier has never done: he scored an overtime game-winner. That will become part of Paul’s legend . . .

“What Paul and Teemu have learned in this series is you have to be patient. When there’s an opening, attack it.”

Coyote General Manager Bobby Smith, who was on the winning team in three of the four decisive seventh games he played in as a member of the Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota North Stars, believes performance under playoff pressure separates great players from those who are merely good.

“There are players in overtime and in a Game 7 and some are thinking, ‘I don’t want to make a big mistake,’ and others are thinking, ‘I want to make a big play.’ You want more players who are saying, ‘I want to go out and make the best play,”’ Smith said. “The focus has to be positive.”

And that’s where Wilson comes in.

He can be infuriating, snide and more than a little egotistical. Yet, when it comes to protecting his players and preparing them for competition, he is proving to be a master.

His use of inspirational films seems corny, but the message he conveys is heartfelt. Give your best. Honor your team and your teammates. Be responsible for yourself and good things will happen. Demand more from each player than that player may have suspected he had. Encourage, don’t embarrass. “You have to be the ray of sunshine when they see some clouds coming,” he said.

As before Game 6, Wilson chose as the theme for Tuesday’s game the movie “The Wizard of Oz” and the characters’ search for qualities they already possessed without knowing it.

“That’s where it’s all going to come from,” he said. “What is the Wizard of Oz? He’s a carnival huckster. Open the curtains and that’s what you see. The whole thing is to show it’s all within you. He handed out a certificate that says you have a brain. What did that mean? It’s all within everybody. That’s the great thing. It’s there. They just didn’t know it.”

The Coyotes took their inspiration from the movie “Braveheart.”

“It’s a pretty good movie,” Coyote Coach Don Hay said of the film, which tells the story of Scotland’s fight for independence. “It talks about commitment and going into battle.”

But as Wilson pointed out, “Braveheart” has a darker conclusion than “The Wizard of Oz.”

“Remember, the hero at the end of that gets his head cut off and a couple of other things done to him,” Wilson said.

Wilson can afford to be glib. He has Kariya and Selanne and a second-round playoff matchup with the Detroit Red Wings, whom the Ducks defeated in their season series, 3-0-1. The cowardly lion got his courage, the tin woodsman got his heart, Dorothy got back to Kansas and Wilson’s Ducks became the seventh team to win an NHL playoff series in its first attempt.

Most movies don’t end anywhere near as happily as that.