Ducks Record Capital W, 5-2

The Mighty Ducks dispatched the Washington Capitals swiftly and certainly Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond. Perhaps they were not as spectacular as in last week’s rout at Washington, but why quibble if you’re a Duck?

The result was the same, an easy victory.

The Ducks’ speed and skill were simply impossible for Washington to match and they took a 5-2 victory from the Capitals.

The Capitals were caught repeatedly in an unfavorable line matchup against the Ducks’ top line of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Matt Cullen.

Kariya scored two goals and had two assists, Selanne had one goal and three assists and Cullen added one assist. Defensemen Fredrik Olausson and Oleg Tverdovsky also scored for the Ducks, who escaped last place in the Pacific Division with the victory.

“On a night like this, when everyone is playing so well, it’s just a pleasure to play the game,” Selanne said after he and Kariya scored four points apiece in the same game for the first time.

“They had a matchup they wanted and we couldn’t get away from,” Washington Coach Ron Wilson said, referring to the Capitals’ line of James Black, Adam Oates and Peter Bondra. “Their first three goals were off turnovers. Bang, bang, bang, it’s in the net.”

Bondra and Steve Konowalchuk had the Capitals’ only goals.

The news Friday was mixed on other fronts for the Ducks.

Defenseman Ruslan Salei returned to a rousing ovation at the Pond after serving a 10-game suspension for injuring Dallas center Mike Modano with his now-famous shove in the back Oct. 2.

But left wing Mike Leclerc underwent surgery Friday afternoon to remove a bursa sac in his left elbow. Leclerc, who has four goals and five points in nine games, will be sidelined up to three weeks.

“It would have been a yearlong battle with it, so they just took it out,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We were worried last week that this might happen. We tried a cautious approach with rest, but it’s swelled up again like a big ball at the end of his elbow.”

Tony Hrkac, acquired Friday from the New York Islanders, will fill the void until Leclerc returns. Hrkac, who can play either center or on a wing, will then give the Ducks added depth up front.

Salei’s return gave the defense corps a boost.

“I was a little nervous. It’s been a while,” Salei said, smiling. “I was surprised how the people cheered for me. It was really sweet of them. It really got me going and made me feel good.”

Many in the announced crowd of 13,586 gave Salei a standing ovation when he came on the ice for his first shift of the game.

“I hope people realize he’s a good player and a good person,” Hartsburg said. “He certainly doesn’t deserve [what] some people have said about him.”

Salei did nothing to embarrass himself in his first game back in the lineup. He delivered two tough but legal checks, certainly nothing to warrant attention by the NHL office. He played a steady shift with Olausson, his defense partner for almost all of last season.

“I thought he moved the puck well and was strong in his one-on-one battles,” Hartsburg said.

Kariya, Selanne and Tverdovsky scored first-period goals. But Washington, 0-4-1 in its last five games, wasn’t nearly as flat-footed as in a 7-1 loss Oct. 19 at the MCI Center.

Still, what possible response could there have been for the tic-tac-toe passing from Selanne to Tverdovsky to Kariya that resulted in the Ducks’ first goal 5:24 into the game?

And what could goaltender Olaf Kolzig have done differently on Selanne’s laser beam from the right faceoff circle for the second Duck goal at the 12:21 mark?

Kolzig was screened by a tangle of players on Tverdovsky’s goal with 34 seconds left in the first period and had no chance to pick up the defenseman’s wrist shot from the right point.

“We wanted to have a good start,” Hartsburg said after the Ducks’ second consecutive victory. “We knew they would come out desperate. We also knew they have been going through some tough times. They had some good chances in the first period, but we capitalized on ours.”