Ducks’ Selanne, Kariya Again Gang Up on Oilers

When all else goes haywire, as it so often does around the Arrowhead Pond, the Mighty Ducks can always count on Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to torch the Edmonton Oilers.

The Ducks’ all-star wingers clicked for two electric third-period goals Friday, jolting their teammates and an announced crowd of 13,592 to life en route to a hard-earned 3-2 victory over the Oilers.

So what else is new? Selanne on Friday scored his 29th goal and 56th point in 38 games against the Oilers. He has more points against only the San Jose Sharks (69 points in 38 games) and the Kings (58 in 40 games).

Kariya, who set up Selanne’s go-ahead goal at 6:25 of the third period before scoring what proved to be the game-winner at 10:44, has 10 goals and 24 points in 23 games against Edmonton.

That’s some one-two punch, eh?

“Paul can make a play out of nothing,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said after the Ducks stopped a two-game losing streak. “He’s persistent and he stayed with the puck and Teemu made a great shot.”

With the teams tied, 1-1, after goals by the Ducks’ Matt Cullen and Edmonton’s Jason Smith (shorthanded), Kariya and Selanne sent the small but energetic crowd to its feet with a terrific setup goaltender Tommy Salo had no hope of stopping.

The play didn’t look like much at first, but Kariya swiped a loose puck from Edmonton’s Brian Swanson near the blue line. Sensing something promising was about to unfold, Selanne raced ahead of the defense into the high slot.

Kariya found Selanne; Selanne found the back of the net, sending a missile by Salo.

“The puck was at his feet,” Kariya explained when asked about stealing the puck from Swanson and setting up Selanne for an open shot. “I turned and the puck was there. A couple of their guys got caught going the wrong way.”

Kariya added a power-play goal midway through the period. Stationed near the right goal post, Kariya deftly flicked his stick to pop a blue-line pass from defenseman Niclas Havelid into the air and past Salo for a 3-1 lead.

“Great play by Nicky,” Kariya said. “I didn’t know if he saw me there. It was a great pass.”

The goal proved to be critical since Doug Weight added a second Edmonton goal with Salo on the bench in favor of a sixth skater in the game’s final minute.

Smith’s shorthanded goal seemed to energize the Oilers and deflate the Ducks, whose power play failed them and cost them the lead 1:39 into the final period.

Guy Hebert, who didn’t practice Thursday after suffering a bruised left thumb in Wednesday’s loss to the Kings, failed to glove Smith’s slap shot from the right wing.

“I guess I could lie to you and say that sucker was really hurting, but it was really me,” Hebert said. “The puck got deflected and I got a glove on it, but it didn’t have enough momentum to go over the net. It’s like waiting on a fastball and getting a changeup.”

About five minutes later, Selanne gave Salo a high heater and the Ducks regained the lead and the momentum. Kariya then put the game out of reach.

“Not many players could deflect the puck like Paul did,” Hartsburg said. “It’s the little things that end up winning hockey games. We certainly needed a win. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to get it done.”

Not all the credit for the victory goes to Kariya and Selanne, however. Cullen made like Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter to snare a line drive off the stick of Edmonton Janne Niinimaa midway through the second period.

Cullen dropped Niinimaa’s clearing pass as quickly as he could, blasting a slap shot from the right faceoff circle past Salo to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead on only their second shot of the second period. All things considered, the Ducks were probably fortunate to have a lead going into the third period. They were outshot, 23-13, after two periods. They also lost 48% of their faceoffs.

But Cullen buried the first second-period chance the Ducks had to score and, thanks to Kariya and Selanne, the Ducks turned up the intensity in the final period.

“We stuck with it,” Kariya said. “We didn’t panic.”