Ducks Fired Up for the Coach

There it was at about 10:30 local time here Thursday night, a first for Craig Hartsburg as coach of the Mighty Ducks. A smile. Pearly whites and all.

Dour but composed, Hartsburg spent his first three games watching shots, passes and nearly everything else go awry. The puck went into the net Thursday and the Ducks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3, in his return to the United Center.

Finally, there was a reason to crack a smile.

And was that a laugh too?

“We just knew it was a matter of time,” Hartsburg said.

He was speaking of the Ducks’ top line of Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selanne scoring some goals after a three-game drought produced the first 0-3 start in the franchise’s six-season history. He could have been talking about his and the Ducks’ first victory of the new season, however.

That it came against the team that fired him in April probably made it all the sweeter--not that he was saying as much at game’s end.

“It’s a big game for our team,” said Hartsburg, who was 104-102-40 in three seasons as Blackhawk coach. “The guys didn’t want to go home from this road trip 0-4.”

Selanne, who scored two goals and had an assist, wasn’t buying that line. He knew better.

“Even in the morning skate, I could see how pumped up he and the other coaches were,” Selanne said. “I joked, ‘You guys should play tonight.’ ”

Hartsburg wasn’t fooling goaltender Guy Hebert, who stopped 23 of 26 shots, either.

“He’s not a man of great emotions, at least he doesn’t show them, but I think he was pretty happy,” Hebert said. “And it being in Chicago was extra special.”

Kariya, who had one goal and two assists, agreed wholeheartedly.

“Craig was pretty pumped up when he came back in [the dressing room] after the game,” Kariya said. “It’s a big win for us, but especially for him.”

It could have been a difficult homecoming, considering the Blackhawks dispatched him after they missed the playoffs for the first time in 29 years.

But Hartsburg made the most of his return to Chicago.

He even made a couple of jokes at his own expense, believed to be another first in his short Duck tenure, at the morning workout Thursday.

Hartsburg canceled practice Wednesday, spending the day with his wife, Peggy, and daughter, Katie, who have remained in the Chicago area while Katie finishes high school.

“The dog opened one eye at me the other night and went back to sleep,” Hartsburg cracked. “He didn’t care if I was there or not. [But] my wife and daughter have been real supportive, although they’re probably glad I’m out of the house since we started 0-3.”

A day off seemed to do the Ducks some good, the Kariya-Rucchin-Selanne line in particular.

Kariya swiped the puck from his frequent tormentor, Chris Chelios, fed Rucchin, who slipped the puck to Selanne at the left goal post. Selanne’s first goal of the season tied the score at 1-all late in the first period after Tony Amonte gave the Blackhawks the lead.

Selanne then set up rookie defenseman Mike Crowley’s second-period goal by muscling Chelios off the puck for a 2-1 Duck lead at 5:49. Kariya then scored on a breakaway with the Ducks short-handed at 7:58.

Chelios was later sidelined by blurred vision for the game’s final 10:56 after Duck winger Jeff Nielsen high-sticked him.

“That really took the pressure off the penalty-killers and got us through the second period,” Hebert said of Kariya’s short-handed goal.

In the third period, the Ducks played it a bit fast and loose defensively, but managed to hang on as the teams traded goals. Jeff Shantz and Doug Gilmour scored for the Blackhawks. Tomas Sandstrom, who had what proved to be the game-winner at 12:46, and Selanne scored for the Ducks.

“[Kariya and Selanne] just showed why, in my opinion, they’re the two best players in the world,” Rucchin said. “They stole the show tonight.”