When They Need It Most, Kariya Earns His Letter

The letter was scarlet from criticism, italicized from ridicule, rendered lower case with rips.

Then, six minutes into the second period Saturday, the New Jersey Devils’ Scott Stevens stuck a shovel in it, digging at the “C” on Paul Kariya’s jersey with a shoulder to the jaw.

Knocked him flat. Left him lying motionless on the ice. Skated away shrugging.

The Pond crowd gasped. The Ducks fretted. One of the Devils thought Kariya might be dead.

But about a dozen minutes later, Stevens got his answer, as did everyone else involved in a Stanley Cup final series that has been turned on its head with the discovery.

Buried underneath that “C” on captain Paul Kariya’s jersey? A heart, of course.

Big enough to help him wobble off the ice. Tough enough to help him climb back on a few shifts later. Pumping hard enough to help him sprint down the side and slap a fastball past Martin Brodeur for what felt like the clinching goal at 17:15 of the period in the Ducks’ 5-2 victory in Game 6.

Two days ago in this column space, a question was asked about Kariya’s whereabouts.

Now we know. Now the entire hockey world knows.

He’s back in the middle of one of the most improbable stories in hockey history, straining and shouting and carrying the Ducks across the country and into the swamps for Monday’s deciding Game 7.

Back where superstars live, where winners thrive, where a $10-million man belongs.

“He’s a little guy,” teammate Rob Niedermayer said of Kariya. “But he’s a captain.”

And so Saturday, for the first time this series, at the most important time of his career, he behaved like one.

In the first five games of the series, he had no goals, one assist and only six shots.

In Game 6, he had one goal, two assists and took three shots.

In the first five games, he was bullied into a corner, knocked into anonymity, criticized from coast to coast as a paper tiger who was blowing his first and best and final chance at a title.

In Game 6, in typical Kariya fashion, quietly but coldly, he said, “Enough.”

The crowd roared. The Devils cringed. The Ducks listened.

“Paul showed he’s the man who can lead us to the promised land,” Niedermayer said.

Sixty minutes from an end to their season, the Ducks are now 60 minutes from the greatest finish in Southern California hockey history.

As quick as Wild Wing rappels from the rafters, they have gone from feeling desperate to feeling destined.

“You can’t dream of anything more than a chance to win the Stanley Cup in Game 7,” said Steve Rucchin.

Great players do that. Kariya has scored more goals and racked up more assists, but he has never had a greater night than this.

“You got to go out there and make plays,” he said. “That’s my job, to produce offensively. I haven’t been doing it very well in this series, so I wanted to help the team and solidify the win.”

But this was bigger than a win, and Kariya did more than just produce.

“It was a nice way to respond,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “When you’re stretched and people are calling you out ... when you respond, that’s the best feeling. That’s why they pay you the money.”

He responded early Saturday, flicking the puck in front of the net where it was deflected to Rucchin, who scored less than five minutes into the game.

But the challenges grew as, four minutes later, Patrick Elias chased Kariya into the boards and pounded him three times on the chest with his stick to earn an interference penalty.

Not to worry. He hung tough enough to later flick a shot that rebounded out to Steve Thomas, who poked it in to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead.

But even then, there was more work to do, as the Devils closed the gap to 3-1 early in the second period, just before the hit that changed everything.

“They had come back, it was getting closer, it could have gone either way,” Niedermayer said.

Then Kariya went down on a hit that, while certainly legal, was also certainly late, with Kariya having passed the puck two strides earlier.

The league released a statement declaring that legality, which means nothing to the guys on the ice.

Said Babcock: “I didn’t think there was going to be any contact at all ... because you’re supposed to have the puck.”

Said Kariya: “I thought it was a little bit late.”

Said Stevens: “Hey, it’s a physical game out there.”

But once Kariya climbed back up -- “I didn’t know if he was alive,” Brodeur said -- it was all mental.

Stevens has knocked four players out of Stanley Cup playoff games in his long career, including the giant Eric Lindros. But not this time.

“I went to the dressing room, the doctors did some tests, I felt great,” Kariya said.

And when he came back onto the ice to a standing ovation?

“Everybody is going crazy and it’s like, he’s really back,” Niedermayer said. “And not just back to skate, but back to score, and back to win.”

And so he did all that, and now the Ducks hope he can do it once more, leading them through a swampland where Kariya has had only one shot in three finals games.

No doubt, on Monday night, the Devils will again be digging under that “C.”

If the Ducks win this most unlikely of championships, you’ll know that, this time, they will have found an “S.”

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.