Kariya Wears Different Hat

Paul Kariya may have already eliminated himself from consideration for the Lady Byng Trophy.

Those six penalty minutes Thursday night -- two for unsportsmanlike conduct -- were hardly the stuff of gentlemanly play. But the trade-off for Kariya is well worth it.

His hat trick and assist pushed the Mighty Ducks to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in front of an announced 9,491 at the FleetCenter. The victory ended a potentially disastrous trip on a positive note.

“Paul has been good all year,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “But we needed a breakthrough, superstar-type performance, where you grab the team and say, ‘Hey, we’re getting a win tonight,’ and that’s what he did.

“We’re trying to get to be a good team that people don’t just Iaugh at,” Babcock added.

The Ducks chuckled all the way back to Anaheim after ending Boston’s eight-game unbeaten streak. The Ducks have a 3-5-3 record and can make their case as a playoff contender -- which Babcock did, and for which he had Kariya to thank.

“He knew how urgent this game was for us,” Babcock said. “This was urgent time for us. If urgent can be on the 11th game of year, this was for us. We’re trying stay in [the race]. With two points tonight, suddenly we’re back in that group again that might be in that picture.”

“Urgent” was the key word there.

There was a sense of that early, as Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere needed to survive difficult situations. The Bruins were on the power play 10 of the first 30 minutes. Giguere, who stopped 26 of 27 shots, denied them each time.

Then Kariya went to work.

His eighth hat trick began when he scored on a gritty play in front of the net. He followed that with a highlights-at-11 back-hander. His third was a gift from grateful teammates, who set him up while the Ducks had a five-on-three advantage with three seconds to play.

“It is always nice to get a hat trick,” Kariya said. “I have a lot of friends in Boston so it was nice to play well. We have had some ups and downs on this road trip, so it was nice to finish it off with a win.”

“Nice” being the key word there.

Nice wasn’t quite the word to describe Kariya during the game.

Afterward, he was still a bit miffed about his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which was added onto his hooking penalty in the first period.

That led to an ungentlemanlytype comment, which may ding his Byng chances.

“I thought [the hooking call] was a bad call and I told him so,” Kariya said. “I said something that I have said a million times and have never been called for unsportsmanlike conduct.”

And the lesson he learned sitting the penalty box?

“It is cold in there,” he said.

Kariya heated up after that and spent the remainder of the game torturing former Duck goalie Steve Shields.

He scored on a power play, chipping in the puck from a scrum in front of the net for a 1-0 lead midway through the second period.

Then with the score tied, 1-1, Shields lazily tried to sweep the puck behind the net, seemingly unconcerned that Kariya was on his heels. Shields fell down. Kariya swung from behind the net, passed on shooting, and centered to Matt Cullen for an empty-net goal.

“That’s a goal-scorer’s goal,” Cullen said, laughing. “That was one of the easiest ones I’ll ever get.”

Kariya made a difficult one look easy late in the period. He slipped behind the Bruin defense and took a flip pass from Steve Rucchin. Kariya confused Shields with backhand and forehand fakes before back-handing the puck into the net.