UNSEASONABLY WARM

The Mighty Ducks struggled, streaked, slumped and soared--sometimes all in the same week--winding up where they had hoped to be after 82 regular-season games: in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

They aren’t expected to win the Cup. They may not even win a game against the two-time defending champion Detroit Red Wings.

Getting this far has been a remarkable accomplishment, however.

“Go back to September,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said to reporters last week. “If anybody in this group picked us to make the playoffs, show me the article.”

The Ducks, picked for last in the Pacific Division, finished third, behind the NHL-leading Dallas Stars and the Phoenix Coyotes. They also finished with a 35-34-13 record.

Right wing Teemu Selanne led the league in goals with 47 and was second to Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins with 107 points. Left wing Paul Kariya had 39 goals and was the league’s third-leading scorer with 101 points, remarkable considering he’d missed the last 28 games in 1998-99 because of post-concussion syndrome.

Any review of 1998-99 must begin last summer, when Hartsburg and newly hired General Manager Pierre Gauthier hatched a plan to return stability to the franchise.

Here, in chronological order, is a look at 10 key moments after the July hirings of Hartsburg and Gauthier:

1. THE OPENER / Oct. 10 at Washington

No one knew what to expect. Ron Wilson had led Washington to the Stanley Cup finals only a year after his firing by the Ducks. It could have been a massacre, but it wasn’t. Newly acquired goalie Dominic Roussel, filling in for an injured Guy Hebert, halted the Capitals all but once in a 1-0 Duck loss. Enforcer Stu Grimson punched out Washington’s Craig Berube after the Capital tough guy had taken a run at Kariya.

2. THE GOAL / Oct. 15 at Chicago

Questions about Kariya’s health were put to rest this night. Facing his longtime tormentor, Chicago defenseman Chris Chelios, Kariya scored a memorable goal. While the Blackhawks were on a power play early in the second period, Kariya blocked a shot just inside the blue line, raced ahead on a breakaway, was denied on his first shot, then tapped in the rebound. That helped the Ducks to their first victory.

3. THE TRADE / Oct. 27

Gauthier had said he wasn’t going to wheel and deal to improve the club, that he wasn’t big on dramatic changes. So the announcement that the Ducks had acquired veteran winger Marty McInnis from Calgary via Chicago for a fourth-round draft pick in 2000 came as a surprise. McInnis added stability, experience and depth, besides 18 goals and 33 assists in 75 games.

4. THE INSULT / Dec. 18 versus the New York Islanders

A first-period collision between defenseman Jason Marshall and Islander forward Claude Lapointe set the tone for this game. Marshall had to leave it because of a strained hamstring. When Travis Green, a former Islander, put a thunderous check on New York’s Kenny Jonsson, it seemed a bold statement. Pushed around for almost all of last season, the Ducks were out to show they would fight back in 1998-99.

When Jonsson was thought to have suffered a concussion, New York General Manager Mike Milbury called Green “a gutless puke.”

Green’s response?

“Oh, Mike,” he said.

5. THE PEP TALK / Jan. 30 somewhere over North America

The Ducks were in a slump, and a 1-0 loss to the Oilers at Edmonton hadn’t helped. On the flight home, Gauthier delivered a simple message. He was not about to make any dramatic moves. It was up to the players to pull together and start winning.

6. THE DEAL / Feb. 4

Less than a week after his airborne speech, Gauthier crossed off one important item on his list: He signed Hebert to a three-year contract extension worth about $12 million. Hebert could have become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. But Gauthier decided it was better to act and remove any distraction in the final weeks of the season. Hebert responded with his best season, winning 31 games with six shutouts.

7. THE STREAK / Feb. 20-March 7

It began with a 5-1 victory over the hapless Canucks at Vancouver and ended with a 4-4 tie against them at Anaheim. In between, the Ducks played some of their best hockey and solidified a playoff berth with a seven-game winning streak.

A 3-1 romp March 7 over Detroit at the Pond indicated the Ducks might have finally pulled even with the Red Wings. It also might have prompted the Red Wings to swing a series of blockbuster deals that brought Chelios, Wendel Clark, Bill Ranford and Ulf Samuelsson to Detroit on March 23.

8. NO DEAL / March 23

The Ducks traded for veteran center Peter Zezel, sending a late-round draft pick to Vancouver. But Zezel decided he would rather be with his terminally ill niece. The deal could have given the Ducks depth and experience but was voided. The impact wasn’t fully felt until Steve Rucchin was sidelined for much of the final month because of a groin strain.

9. THE CLINCHER / April 2 at Madison Square Garden

The Ducks hammered the New York Rangers, 4-1, two nights after having been hammered by the New Jersey Devils, 7-1. The victory gave the Ducks a playoff berth.

The Ducks seemed unfazed by the accomplishment, saying that getting to the playoffs had been their priority and they’d expected to be there.

The Ducks went flat in the stretch, posting a 1-5-2 record in their final eight games and dropping to sixth in the Western Conference standings. But they had reestablished their respectability.

10. THE FIGHT / April 17 at San Jose

OK, so no one will take Kariya or Selanne for Grimson, but the all-star wingers rumbled with two San Jose Sharks in the season finale that ended in a 3-3 tie. The Ducks squandered a three-goal lead, but the sight of Kariya and Selanne tangling with Alexander Korolyuk and Owen Nolan of the Sharks indicated a spark had again been ignited. Not a bad way to prepare for the playoffs.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ducks Month By Month

OCT.

Record: 3-3-3-

Win pct.: .500

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 21 (2.3)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 19 (2.1)

*

NOV.

Record: 5-7-1

Win pct.: .423

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 29 (2.2)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 34 (2.6)

*

DEC.

Record: 5-3-4

Win pct.: .583

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 29 (2.4)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 26 (2.2)

*

JAN.

Record: 4-9-1

Win pct.: .321

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 39 (2.8

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 40 (2.9)

*

FEB.

Record: 10-3-0

Win pct.: .769

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 46 (3.5)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 31 (2.4)

*

MARCH

Record: 6-4-2

Win pct.: .583

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 31 (2.6)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 31 (2.6)

*

APRIL

Record: 2-5-2

Win pct.: .333

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 20 (2.2)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 25 (2.8)

*

TOTAL

Record: 35-34-13

Win pct.: .506

Goals for (Avg./gm.): 215 (2.6)

Goals allowed (Avg.gm.): 206 (2.5)

DETROIT VS. DUCKS

Best-of-seven-series

Wednesday at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.

Friday at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday at Mighty Ducks, noon

April 27 at Mighty Ducks, 7:30 p.m.

April 29 at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.*

May 2 at Mighty Ducks, noon*

May 4 at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.*

* if necessary