Vision of Cup Is No Longer an Illusion

Get ready, Paul Kariya is going to say it again.

“When I envisioned winning the Stanley Cup, it was in Anaheim.”

This is no longer a laughing matter.

Kariya has repeated that statement over the years, and no one ever doubted his sincerity. In front of a media throng Wednesday, Kariya rolled tape again. This time, heads nodded, pens wrote down every syllable, cameras hummed. This was serious stuff.

The Mighty Ducks and the New Jersey Devils are even, 2-2, in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals with Game 5 tonight at the Continental Airlines Arena, where the Ducks have lost eight consecutive games and won only once in 10 seasons.

In the past, when the finals have been tied after four games, the team that took Game 5 has gone on to win the Cup 13 of 17 times.

And, in the past, when the Ducks have had tremendous success, Kariya has been scoring goals.

That’s where things get a little murky.

Kariya has been muzzled through four games. In fact, none of the Ducks’ top six forwards have a goal. The only point they have is from center Adam Oates, who has one assist in the series, but, then, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere does as well. So does New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur.

To win the Cup, it would seem necessary for one of the Ducks’ top six forwards to outscore the goalies.

“Those guys draw matchups,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “They make [the other] coach get people on and off the ice. They create confusion and panic as far as matchups go.”

The Ducks need more than decoys at the moment.

Kariya stands out, not only because he has been a prolific goal scorer throughout his career. For years, he has been fawned over by the Canadian media -- particularly from his hometown of Vancouver -- who saw playing for the Ducks as doing time in the NHL’s gulag.

Now the questions from those same quarters are about whether the Ducks can win the Cup without offense from Kariya.

“Of course, I want to contribute offensively,” Kariya said. “The games are so low scoring and so tight, that you can’t take any risks. You got to do the job defensively.”

The Ducks have been exceptional defensively throughout the playoffs, starting with Giguere, who is a strong candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy whether the Ducks win or lose the series.

But their offense has done a vanishing act from time to time, sometimes from game to game.

The Ducks were shut out by the Devils in the first two games of the series.

“I think confidence-wise in the way we played the first two games, I’m sure it’s in the back of their heads a bit,” Brodeur said. “It’s going to be important for us to really use that.”

The Ducks have scored 37 goals in 18 playoff games. New Jersey has scored 52 in 21 games.

Kariya scored two goals -- one when he lunged to bat the puck into the net on a play worthy of any highlight show -- in a 4-0 Game 3 victory over Minnesota in the Western Conference finals. He has none since.

Petr Sykora, who had a team-high 34 goals in the regular season, has two goals in the playoffs, both in overtime, and none in the last seven games.

That is partly because of the defensive focus of the Devils, who try to match their best defense tandem -- Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski -- against the Ducks’ top scorers.

“When you’re a guy who draws those people, that’s what you have to fight through,” Babcock said. “ ... All goal scorers measure themselves by scoring, whereas I just want them to compete as hard as they possibly can.”

The Duck spin is basic: The goals count the same no matter who scores.

“That’s the way our team has been,” said Marc Chouinard, a fourth-line winger who scored in Game 3. “Goals can be scored by anyone here. That’s the depth we have. That is what makes us a dangerous team.”

Kariya leads the team with five playoff goals. Grant Marshall, who had only nine goals in 76 regular-season games, also has five in the playoffs. The Devils have three players who have scored more, Jamie Langenbrunner with nine, Jeff Friesen with eight and John Madden with six.

“What I’m asked to do is not score goals, I’m asked to push the pace,” Sykora said. “We just want to win. That’s all about doing the little things. When I don’t score, the coaches never say anything to me. If I don’t do the little things, they let you know about it.”

The Devils have made that difficult in New Jersey.

The Ducks blamed the shutouts on their 10-day layoff before the finals began. The Devils, however, have a 10-1 home record during the playoffs and have allowed only 10 goals in those games.

“We thought we would steal one in Anaheim, they thought they would steal one here,” Devil Coach Pat Burns. “Two out of three with home ice, we got to feel good about it.”

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Finals Facts and Figures

*--* A closer look at the Devils and Mighty Ducks leading into Game 5: * The Devils are 10-1 at home in the playoffs; The Ducks are 6-3 on the road * The Ducks won 96 of 152 (63.2%) faceoffs in Games 3 and 4 * The team that has won Game 5 when the series was tied, 2-2, has gone on to win the Cup 13 of 17 times * The Devils have lost four straight overtime games, two to the Ducks and two against Ottawa. They also have won only two one-goal games in the last two series, outscoring opponents, 19-5, in their six victories * The Ducks are 7-0 in overtime in the playoffs. They also have tied an NHL record with 12 one-goal wins, against only one loss * Devil goaltender Martin Brodeur owns two Stanley Cup rings but is only 8-18 in playoff overtime games

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