Ducks Fight Off the Sharks to Win Round 1

Don’t let all that teal fool you. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the cartoonish crests on the jerseys of the Mighty Ducks and San Jose Sharks.

The blood flowing Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond was red and it was real, every bit as real as the bad feelings that threatened to boil over into fisticuffs between the Pacific Division rivals.

In the end, the Ducks fought--in every sense of the word--their way to a 3-1 victory over the Sharks before a sellout crowd of 17,174.

The Ducks also dodged as many high sticks, slashes, spears, punches and insults as they delivered to the Sharks. This was not a game for the timid or faint of heart.

The rematch is at 7:30 tonight at San Jose.

“It doesn’t bother us,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said when asked about the chippy play. “We’ve got some guys who thrive on it, starting with Paul [Kariya] and Teemu [Selanne].”

Even referee Dan Marouelli got caught up in the rough stuff, requiring an undisclosed number of stitches to mend a wound over his left eyebrow after he was accidentally struck by a high stick.

It was a night in which the NHL’s experiment with two referees in selected games could have come in handy. Heck, this game could have used two cops.

Linesman Wayne Bonney filled in as referee for about six minutes while Marouelli was tended to by trainers.

The tone was set early, when Duck center Steve Rucchin took a blow to the head from San Jose troublemaker Bryan Marchment 2:17 into the game.

Rucchin scored the game’s first goal, a power-play goal at 11:35 of the first period, but didn’t play again after skating a few shifts in the second because of what Hartsburg said were flu symptoms.

“He’s a warrior,” Selanne said of Rucchin. “He broke his nose [Feb. 17] and he doesn’t look pretty now, but he does what he can. We told him he doesn’t have to look pretty. But it doesn’t matter. He’s one of us.”

Selanne, Marchment’s original target before Rucchin stepped to his defense, played on in spectacular fashion. He assisted on Rucchin’s goal and extended his point streak to a league-leading 12 games.

Selanne also scored the Ducks’ second goal, while they were on a power play at 10:21 of the second.

And he set up Travis Green’s goal with a terrific cross-ice pass that gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead at 15:40 of the second period.

The Sharks did not leave Anaheim unscathed.

San Jose’s Murray Craven re-injured his right knee trying to make his way out of a scrum along the boards midway through the second period and did not return.

Craven was sidelined for 20 games this season because of nerve damage in his knee.

Remarkably, there wasn’t a fight.

“San Jose came out tonight and started hitting,” Duck defenseman Jason Marshall said. “We had to answer back.”

Of Marchment’s initial hit on Selanne, Marshall said, “That’s his job. He’s the best open-ice hitter in the league. Teemu went right back at him. That let us know he’s not going to stand for it.

“And neither are we.”

Friday’s victory over the Sharks kept the Ducks three points ahead of the St. Louis Blues in the battle for fifth place in the Western Conference, and it moved them within nine points of the fourth-place Phoenix Coyotes.