Sharks Bid Ducks a Rough Goodbye

Sorry, San Jose Shark fans, but the Mighty Ducks are no longer available for tormenting this season.

If your team makes the playoffs, you’ll just have to find someone else to rough up in the postseason. If you want another go at the woebegone Ducks, you’ll just have to drag them off the golf course.

The Sharks completed a six-game season sweep of the Ducks with a physical, 5-2, victory Thursday in front of 17,483 at San Jose Arena.

Physical? Brutal is perhaps more accurate.

San Jose defenseman Al Iafrate knocked Teemu Selanne out of the game with a rough check against the boards late in the first period. Selanne suffered a groin strain.

Selanne missed Finland’s bronze-medal victory at the Nagano Olympics and the Ducks’ first five games after the break because of a lower abdominal strain.

He said after scoring his NHL-leading and franchise-record 52nd goal in Wednesday’s 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers that the injury was still troubling him.

“They say it’s his groin,” Duck Coach Pierre Page said. “They said he hurt it before the hit.”

Asked about Selanne’s status for Monday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, Page said, “To be honest, I don’t know.”

Selanne was not immediately available for comment at game’s end.

Right from the start, it was evident the Sharks and Ducks had different agendas.

The Sharks are battling for a Western Conference playoff spot. The Ducks are not. The Sharks hit anyone in a Duck uniform. The Ducks seemed a step slow and therefore were easy targets.

Murray Craven’s goal only 1:08 into the game provided the Sharks with just the start they needed.

Duck rookie Josef Marha clanged a shot off the goalpost moments later, and that should have been a clue it wouldn’t be the Ducks’ night. Of course, there have too many nights like Thursday--particularly against San Jose.

That’s not to say the Ducks went down without a fight. They spent much of the first period attempting to separate Shark defenseman Bryan Marchment from his senses.

Marchment, whose reputation tends to run the gamut from cheap to dirty, appeared to hit Tomas Sandstrom with a shot to the knee with the game not four minutes old.

Sandstrom retaliated with a slashing penalty and Joe Murphy scored the Sharks’ second goal at 4:57.

The Ducks kept a sharp lookout for Marchment, who has received two suspensions this season for knee-on-knee hits.

“They have one player who wants to end someone’s career every time he hits someone,” Page said of Marchment. “If he’s playing physical, great. If he goes beyond that, you have to do something about it.

“It was a very chippy game. It was the kind of game if you don’t do something about something, nothing is going to stop it. Penalties weren’t going to control it.”

So when Marchment elbowed defenseman Pavel Trnka in the head, tough guy Jeremy Stevenson bloodied Marchment during a one-sided fight at 12:29 of the first period.

“There’s nothing really left to play for except each other,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to stick up for each other.”

Iafrate then hammered Selanne with a hard check against the glass behind the Shark net at 15:43. TV replays indicated it was not nearly in the same category as the March 13 hit on Selanne by Dallas defenseman Craig Ludwig, which ignited three brawls.

Selanne took a long, slow skate around the rink, then headed for the dressing room.

Add goaltender Mike Vernon into the mix, and the Ducks had no shortage of Sharks frustrating them Thursday. Vernon, who led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup last season, blanked the Ducks on 17 shots through two periods.

He also picked up a minor for slashing Brent Severyn in the final minute of the the second period. But Vernon gave way to Kelly Hrudey to start the third period and the Ducks finally got back in the game.

Marha ended the shutout by racing past the Shark defense to score his second goal in as many games. Ted Drury scored the Ducks’ second goal.