Ducks Work to Beat Sharks

Teemu Selanne has seen better chances. He has scored prettier goals. This one, though, was one to remember.

“It was like a working-class goal,” Selanne said.

Selanne dug out the puck, then wheeled behind the net to score as the the Ducks defeated the San Jose Sharks, 1-0, Sunday.

The Ducks arrived here still stinging from Wednesday’s 8-2 meltdown against Phoenix. They left for tonight’s game in Edmonton with two points after out-working the Sharks in front of a sellout crowd of 17,483 at San Jose Arena.

Phoenix? Phoenix? Anyone remember the Phoenix game?

“That was one for us to forget,” said Selanne, who scored at 14 minutes 2 seconds of the third period. “We know we’re not that bad of team. We didn’t know whether to cry or laugh the other night.”

The Ducks got a stand-up performance from goalie Dominic Roussel on Sunday, even if he did get knocked flat in the last two minutes. Roussel, who gave up five goals after replacing the injured Guy Hebert Wednesday, stopped 26 shots for his seventh career shutout.

Roussel’s best moment was hard for him to recall. San Jose’s Brad Stuart whipped a shot from the blue line that Ron Sutter, standing free in front of the net, tipped. Roussel made the save, then was trampled by Sutter, who flipped the rebound wide.

Roussel was down on the ice for a minute, gathering his thoughts.

He was called on one more time, knocking away a Mike Ricci shot as Ricci was knocked into the net by defenseman Ruslan Salei.

“Everybody was pretty much embarrassed by our last effort,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “That was really uncharacteristic of the way this team has played most of the year.

“We’ve worked hard to get in the position we’re in now. No one wanted to take a step backward.”

The Ducks, who are 8-3-2 in their last 13 games, gained ground in winning their fifth consecutive road game, a franchise record. They moved ahead of Dallas in the Pacific Division and are within a point of second-place San Jose.

“This was a big one,” Selanne said. “Our defense was great. Our penalty killing was great. If we hold teams to two goals or less, we should win. We have enough talent on this team to score more than three goals every night.”

Scoring one required an effort Sunday.

The afternoon game was ragged at times. The Ducks, for example, took only three shots in the last 15 minutes of the second period.

Selanne, though, didn’t lack for chances. He had two in the last minute of the first period.

San Jose goalie Steve Shields stopped the first with a pad save. On the second, Selanne had Shields on the ice with a fake, but he couldn’t get his stick on the puck on his backhand try.

In the third period, Selanne led a three-on-one charge from the Duck zone. He dropped a pass to Oleg Tverdovsky, then took the puck back. But Shields made a sliding save.

“If I hadn’t scored, I would have called it Christmas rust,” Selanne said. He did score, but it wasn’t one for the highlight reel.

Center Steve Rucchin battled Shark defensemen Mike Rathje and Gary Suter on the boards. Rucchin, on his knees, managed to slide the puck toward Selanne, who swung behind the net and beat Shields high. Until that point, Shields had stopped 51 of 51 shots against the Ducks in two games this season.

“You try to forget about the chances you miss and get your mind on the next one,” Selanne said. “I kept reminding myself to go high with the shot. He is such a big guy that he takes up so much room low. On the bench, I kept telling myself that.”