Ducks Score Enough to Beat Oilers

Progress--on and off the ice--came in measured doses for the Mighty Ducks in the last two days.

The Ducks scratched out a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Friday at the Pond, one day after team president Tony Tavares and General Manager Jack Ferreira met with Paul Kariya’s agent for the first time in more than a month.

“A big win for the team, a big win for the organization,” Coach Pierre Page said after defenseman Dmitri Mironov’s game-winning goal with 1:04 left in regulation gave the Ducks a 2-2-2 record.

“We’ve agreed to stay in closer touch [in the wake of Thursday’s meeting with agent Don Baizley in Chicago],” Tavares said. “I wouldn’t call it a warming trend. There’s not been much progress, but I’m supposed to call him again on Monday.”

The events of Thursday and Friday should provide encouraging news for Duck players and fans alike.

After all, the Ducks simply can’t seem to score many goals without Kariya, an unsigned free agent who missed his sixth game of the season. Their fans can’t seem to stomach the ragged play on offense, chanting, “We want Paul,” again Friday.

But when it seemed the Ducks might tie their third game in the past four, Mironov supplied the game-winner with a wrist shot from the high slot with 1:04 left in regulation time.

Mironov accepted a pass from Teemu Selanne just inside the blue line, used teammate Kevin Todd as a screen and beat Edmonton goaltender Bob Essensa with a high shot.

As if playing without Kariya wasn’t reason enough for the summit meeting between team management and Baizley, there remains the matter of scoring goals.

Or rather not scoring goals, as the case has been.

The Ducks seemed to be performing all the little tasks with great efficiency against Edmonton.

Their defensive play was sound, except for a breakdown that led to the Oilers’ only goal. Guy Hebert looked sharp in goal, stopping 26 of 27 shots. Passes clicked. There were plenty of shots and scoring chances. The penalty-killing unit suffocated the Oilers on four power-play opportunities.

“We worked hard for 60 minutes and finally got rewarded for it,” Hebert said after his first victory this season.

But something was amiss.

Goals.

Try as they might, the Ducks simply couldn’t alter their method of operation and produced another offensive dud.

To be sure, this one wasn’t quite as defensive-dominated as past games against the neutral-zone traps of the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators had been. There were plenty of end-to-end rushes this time, but the Ducks simply couldn’t seem to finish their chances.

“It seems like a lot of the teams are playing that chess-match style,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “We’ve got to play a smart, disciplined game.”

The goal-starved Ducks caught a break Friday because the Oilers have been in a similar offensive rut to start the season.

Neither team has topped a two-goals-per-game average, but at least the Ducks have a ready-made excuse: two-thirds of their top line was missing in action again Friday. The Oilers were at full strength.

Without Kariya and center Steve Rucchin, who has been sidelined five consecutive games because of a groin strain, the Ducks must count on Selanne and hope for a bit of luck.

Page again made do with only 11 healthy forwards. Keeping track of his line combinations wasn’t an easy chore, although he often shuffles the deck even under the best of circumstances.

It took a fortunate bounce for the Ducks to seize a 1-0 lead at the 9:50 mark of the first period. Edmonton’s Todd Marchant lost control of the puck as he skated behind the Duck net.

The puck squirted loose to Duck center Sean Pronger, who fed a pass into the high slot to defenseman Darren Van Impe. Essensa appeared to be screened and Van Impe’s shot went over his left shoulder and into the net.