Ducks Play With Fire in Charron’s Debut

Pierre Gauthier, Mighty Duck president and general manager, wanted passion. He wanted energy and optimism. He wanted something vastly different from what he had been seeing from his team in the season’s first 33 games.

A day after firing Craig Hartsburg as coach and replacing him with Guy Charron, Gauthier got all that and more in a 6-4 victory Friday over the New York Rangers at the Arrowhead Pond.

An announced crowd of 14,944 watched the Ducks skate purposefully from start to finish, which itself was a dramatic change over recent games.

And they did it without top-line forwards Teemu Selanne, sidelined by a groin strain, and Steve Rucchin (headaches).

“We didn’t steal this win,” Charron said. “We deserved it.”

The Ducks fired a season-high 42 shots at New York goaltender Mike Richter, who was at the top of his game. Every skater in the Duck lineup except center Marc Chouinard, who made his NHL debut, had at least one shot on the Ranger net.

What’s more, the Ducks matched their season high of six goals, set in a 6-3 victory Oct. 29 against the Calgary Flames and a 6-2 romp Nov. 18 against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Rangers clicked on two power-play goals, but had only a handful of quality scoring chances against Duck goalie Guy Hebert, who made 26 saves.

“We played loose tonight,” Duck captain Paul Kariya said. “We played with confidence. Guy [Charron] talked about playing with energy and enjoying ourselves out there tonight. You’re not going to win without energy. Winning produces energy. It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg thing.”

Matt Cullen’s goal off a slick cross-ice pass from Marty McInnis a mere 33 seconds into the game sent a jolt of energy through the Ducks. They let that lead slip away and a 2-1 advantage early in the second period, but seized control in the middle period thanks to Kariya’s goal on a breakaway at 6:29 and McInnis’ power-play score at 8:38.

Right wing Mike Leclerc’s first of two goals restored the Ducks’ two-goal lead after New York had pulled within one, at 4-3, in the second half of the middle period. Leclerc’s second goal, which tied him with Kariya for the team lead with 12, gave the Ducks a 6-4 lead with 4:11 left in the final period.

“We’re on a mission here,” Leclerc said. “We tried to put everything that’s happened in the last few days aside.”

The Ducks defeated the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-4, in overtime Wednesday. Hartsburg was fired the next day after conducting practice. After Friday’s game, Hartsburg phoned Charron to offer his congratulations.

“There was nothing special we talked about before the game,” Charron said when asked if he gave the team a pregame pep talk. “The guys just did what they had to do. They know the way they need to play to be successful. Tonight, we got that kind of performance from everybody.”

Make no mistake, the second line was by far the Ducks’ best, accounting for four of the six goals and exploiting the Rangers’ porous defense. Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch, for example, was on the ice for five Duck goals.

“Getting a goal that fast gives you legs right away,” Cullen said of his first-period goal. “Getting an early lead gave us a lot of confidence.”

The Ducks couldn’t put away the Rangers, who are 0-6-1 in their last seven road games and were playing one night after a 5-5 tie against the Kings. The Rangers rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to tie, but never got closer than a goal the rest of the way.

The Ducks seemed poised for a collapse when the Rangers’ Michal Grosek scored 1:02 into the final period, cutting the lead to 5-4.

Instead of folding, the Ducks got stronger. Leclerc gave the Ducks breathing room, pouncing on a loose puck after Cullen swiped it from a Ranger at the blue line. Leclerc skated to the bottom of the left faceoff circle before unleashing a shot that Richter had no hope of stopping.