Schneider Stirs Hard Feelings

The Mighty Ducks’ Teemu Selanne was alert on the ice Tuesday, a day after nearly being knocked senseless by King defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

Selanne was hit in the back of the helmet by Schneider’s stick while standing by the net 10 minutes into the game. He complained of a headache, dizziness and blurred vision after the Kings’ 5-4 overtime victory at the Arrowhead Pond.

Schneider was called for interference on the play.

“I’m a lot better today,” Selanne said. “I just have a little hangover feeling. When it happened, I had my head down and my neck just snapped back. I wasn’t expecting to be hit there.”

The Ducks, who play the Kings again tonight, didn’t grumble about the hit--”I saw it and it was interference,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. But the team does have issues with Schneider.

In 1996, Schneider, then with the Toronto Maple Leafs, was suspended for three games after elbowing Paul Kariya in the head, causing Kariya’s first concussion.

Schneider’s hit Monday was less belligerent and somewhat lost in a physical game.

In the first period, the Ducks’ Jim Cummins pummeled the Kings’ Kelly Buchberger to the ice. Later in the period, the Kings’ Stu Grimson put a hard check on the Ducks’ Andrei Nazarov, who then smacked Grimson in the face.

“There was an attitude of urgency from the beginning last night,” Duck left wing Dan Bylsma said. “We were coming off a successful road trip and wanted to come out and continue to do well. They were coming off a less-than-successful trip and wanted to turn things around.”

Of course, Bylsma, who was with the Kings last season, said that was only part of the reason for the intense play.

“Every time the Ducks and Kings play, it’s going to be a spirited game,” Bylsma said.

During an exhibition game a year ago, the teams racked up 175 penalty minutes with Hartsburg and King Coach Andy Murray also jawing at each other.

A game last March left the Kings angry at Duck defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski for several hard checks, including one that injured Ziggy Palffy. In a later game, the Kings’ Luc Robitaille was called for elbowing one Duck player, then skated across the ice to give Vishnevski an elbow to the face.

*

Dominic Roussel will start in goal tonight. He is 1-0-1 with a 2.03 goals-against average in three games this season. . . . The Ducks recalled defenseman Antti-Jussi Niemi from their minor league affiliate at Cincinnati.