Rookie Earns His Wings

Impressed by Marc Chouinard’s hustle and touch around the net that produced his first NHL goal at 4:11 of the first period, Duck Coach Guy Charron put the rookie center between all-star wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne by game’s end.

So this is what it’s come to?

Injury-riddled and hopelessly out of playoff contention, the Ducks have resorted to playing a rookie with their top two players. The way Charron figured it, Chouinard earned a chance to play on the team’s top line.

“Our only goal tonight came from a fourth-line guy who is just up from Cincinnati,” Charron said of Chouinard, who played his 19th NHL game Saturday. “Marc certainly wasn’t a liability with those guys. I didn’t think our big line was generating a lot tonight, so I put somebody else there.”

Tony Hrkac, who had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, took a seat for much of the final period of Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“To have my first goal be in a 1-0 game would have been perfect,” Chouinard said. “It would have been really nice.”

Chouinard’s goal was set up by fellow grinders Jim Cummins, who put a tricky shot on net that eluded Columbus goalie Ron Tugnutt, and Kevin Sawyer, who kept the puck alive. When the puck kicked out to Chouinard at the left goal post, he whipped a backhander past a fallen Tugnutt.

“I was pretty happy,” Chouinard said of his goal. “It was a highlight for me also to play with those two guys [Kariya and Selanne]. You think about the Mighty Ducks and you think of them.”

Chouinard was part of the deal that brought Selanne to Anaheim from the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 7, 1996. Chouinard, 23, recorded his first NHL point with an assist in the Ducks’ 3-2 loss Dec. 31 to the Minnesota Wild.