It’s One for All in Jersey

Mike Leclerc, Paul Kariya and Steve Rucchin are all grown up and playing real hockey now.

“I have won the Stanley Cup a million times,” Leclerc said. “All before I was 10 years old. It was four inches tall and sat on my table hockey game. Now I have the opportunity to win the real one.”

The opportunity is there because the Ducks had the right answers in a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night that squared the Cup finals at three games apiece.

Kariya had an answer for Scott Stevens, who had leveled the Duck captain with a second-period scary hit. Kariya returned a few minutes later and scored a here’s-how-I’m-feeling goal, rocketing a shot past goaltender Martin Brodeur.

The 17,174 fans at the Arrowhead Pond had an answer for the Devil fans, who had taunted goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere back east. Brodeur was on the bench midway through the third period and the fans serenaded him with the sing-song chant “Mar-tee, Mart-ee, Mar-tee.”

Duck forward Petr Sykora, one of the scorers who had hibernated through the early games against the Devils, scored a goal, assisted on two others, and had the “well, duh” statement to what lay ahead.

“It’s Game 7, who wouldn’t be ready?” Sykora said.

Ready or not, here it comes.

The Ducks face the Devils in the winner-takes-Cup game Monday at Continental Airlines Arena.

“There is only two days left in the season,” Giguere said. “You can relax after that.”

For the Ducks to kick back with the Cup means they have to go against a few trends.

They have lost nine consecutive games in New Jersey, three this series. The Devils have an 11-1 home record, giving up only 13 goals, in the playoffs. The home team has won nine of 11 times in Game 7 in the Cup final.

Those were numbers to fret about today.

The Ducks had more than earned a few hours to absorb their dominating performance in an elimination game.

Rucchin scored twice, getting the Ducks off to a 2-0 lead 13 minutes into the game.

Kariya broke out of his playoff goal slump, after nearly being broken by Stevens. His blur from just inside the blue line gave the Ducks a 4-1 lead 17:15 into the second period, burying any thoughts of a Devil comeback.

Sykora had three points, as the Ducks’ top six forwards had at least one point -- 11 in all -- after combining for only one point through the first four games.

Giguere was good, but not great. But his “good” is better than most others, and was certainly better than Brodeur. Giguere stopped 26 of 28 shots. The Devils did not get a puck past him until after Steve Thomas’ goal gave the Ducks a 3-0 first-period lead to take into the dressing room.

The Ducks even scored a power-play goal. Two of them.

“We need to carry this game over to the final game,” defenseman Keith Carney said.

If it were only so easy to bottle and cap such a performance. The Ducks had a firm grasp on this one five minutes into the game.

Rucchin came off the bench on a line change, gathered a deflected Kariya pass at the blue line and whistled a shot off Stevens and past Brodeur for a 1-0 lead 4:26 into the game.

Rucchin made it 2-0 about 10 minutes later, after Rob Niedermayer battled a puck away from two Devils, knocking it to Leclerc. He centered to Rucchin, who snapped in a wrist shot.

Thomas then banged in a rebound for a 3-0 lead at 15:59 of the first period, ending the Ducks’ 0-for-10 streak on power plays in the series.

“Every time we play on the road we seem to be like that,” Brodeur said. “We would like to know [why]. ... At home, we don’t seem to have that problem.”

The Devils tried to rally the best way they know how -- by letting Stevens flatten an opposing player.

Kariya had made a pass, took three strides and got a face-full of Stevens’ left shoulder. He lay on the ice for less than a minute, then wobbled to the dressing room.

This was the type of hit that has sent players to the hospital, while propelling the Devils to victory.

“That [ticked] us off,” Leclerc said. “But we had to stay poised. We couldn’t stoop to their game.”

Kariya had his own response.

He returned about three minutes later, to the roar of the fans. On his next shift, he barreled into Brodeur trying to get at a rebound. On his next shift, Kariya took the puck at the red line, skated into the Devil zone and fired a shot that was in the net before Brodeur could react with his glove.

It ended a six-game goal-less streak for the Anaheim star, whose shabby play was being held up as a reason the Ducks were struggling offensively.

“I can’t go out there and try to put on a show for people and get out of our system,” Kariya said.

Of course, that is just what Kariya did. He assisted on two other goals. Which left him with just one goal to get.

One big one.

“When I was a kid growing up, I didn’t have that vivid of an imagination,” said Kariya, when asked about whether he ever pretended to win the Cup. “I was just going out there and playing.”

He will play again Monday for a prize that won’t fit on Leclerc’s table hockey game.