Kariya Leads the Way Off the Ice, Then On

The Mighty Ducks have talked a pretty good game for weeks now, but Wednesday they finally played one.

No joke.

Captain Paul Kariya led the way, scoring two goals and earning one bloody nose in the Ducks’ impressive 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars at the Arrowhead Pond.

Kariya called a players-only meeting Tuesday after practice, then stormed out in a huff. He hoped to keep the Ducks’ hearts and heads in the right places for the stretch drive.

But talking about it was only going to get the Ducks so far. Wednesday, he seized them and hoisted them on his back, taking them to their first victory this season after trailing after two periods.

OK, so the Ducks were only down 1-0 after Joe Nieuwendyk’s power-play goal for Dallas midway through the second period. One goal isn’t exactly a mountain to climb.

But the Ducks were an atrocious 0-15-1 this season when trailing entering the final period.

“In the dressing room, it was very lively and upbeat,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said of the Ducks’ mood between the second and third periods.

Only 1:08 into the third period, the Ducks finally had a reason to be lively and upbeat. Center Antti Aalto sent a laser beam into the upper corner of the net for the tying goal, his first since Nov. 17.

The goal also ended the Ducks’ scoreless streak at 128 minutes 56 seconds, dating to Kariya’s second-period goal in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

At the 1:45 mark, right wing Jeff Nielsen sent Nieuwendyk off the ice with a thunderous check along the boards.

Nieuwendyk, who has been nursing sore ribs, lay on the ice in obvious pain for several minutes before being assisted to the dressing room. He suffered a separated shoulder and is expected to be sidelined for a month, a team official said.

The Stars had no reason to complain about the hit, a fair challenge by Nielsen as Nieuwendyk turned with the puck to avoid Duck pressure. Nielsen was upon him before Nieuwendyk could elude the check.

The game’s momentum was firmly in the Ducks’ grasp at this point. And when Kariya pounced on a loose puck in the high slot and whistled a quick shot past goalie Manny Fernandez at the 6:41 mark, the lead was finally theirs too.

“Paul got us a goal that, up until now, hadn’t been going in for us,” goalie Guy Hebert said. “When I saw that go in, I said to myself, ‘No way am I letting another one in.’ ”

Hebert didn’t, turning back the Stars repeatedly in the final minutes.

Kariya, whose nose was bloodied on the backswing of a slap shot by Dallas’ Sergei Zubov in the final minute, then put the game away with an empty-net goal.

Kariya outraced Dallas’ Brett Hull to a loose puck in the attacking zone, dived headlong and whacked it into the open net with one second remaining.

It was a fitting conclusion to a feisty effort by the Ducks, perhaps their best all-around showing since a 3-1 victory Dec. 19 over the Detroit Red Wings gave them a four-game winning streak.

The Ducks have been in a 3-9-1 slide since, however.

“I think we’re just sick of losing,” Hebert said.

Perhaps Tuesday’s events reinforced that notion for the Ducks.

They certainly had a different look Wednesday, what with left wing Jim McKenzie on waivers and Russian rookies Maxim Balmochnykh and Vitaly Vishnevski in the lineup after their recall from the minors.

Thanks, in part, to Kariya’s meeting, the Ducks also played with more passion than in recent weeks.

The question is: Will one strong performance get them back on track?

“It’s going to be a huge lift,” right wing Teemu Selanne said. “I don’t think you can get a bigger confidence boost than beating Dallas.”

The Ducks remain mired in 10th place and out of a playoff spot in the hyper-competitive Western Conference. But this morning they also are only two points from seventh place.

“We’re so close,” Hebert said. “Let’s just push this [slump] over the edge. We’re going to win three or four in a row here soon and our confidence will be back.”