Ducks Are Zeroing In on Reality of Playoffs

An ugly night that led to a beautiful situation.

The Mighty Ducks spent much of Saturday looking very much like a team headed for an early vacation. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere labored through a difficult, yet record-setting performance, while his teammates played in debt again after falling behind early.

All that was washed clean when Niclas Havelid lined up a shot like a putt on the 18th green, then fired the puck into the net 1 minute 33 seconds into overtime.

That gave the Ducks a 3-2 victory over San Jose in front of an announced 17,496 at HP Pavilion that moved them within one victory of clinching the third playoff berth in franchise history.

It was Anaheim’s third come-from-behind victory in the last 10 days. Petr Sykora had his fifth two-goal game of the season, Paul Kariya assisted on all three Duck goals, and Havelid closed the deal.

The Ducks began the overtime period on the power play, as Scott Hannan was sent off for hooking with 26.1 seconds left in regulation. Havelid took a pass from Adam Oates at the point, zeroed in and goalie Evgeni Nabokov never had a chance.

So after three seasons of not making the playoffs, a victory over Columbus Monday -- or a loss by ninth-place Phoenix that night -- puts the Ducks in the in the postseason.

“We have been playing so many games lately and we haven’t had our minds focused on anything else,” center Steve Rucchin said. “We have had the confidence for some time that we are a playoff team. Any doubts are behind us now. We expect to be there.”

They are on the porch because of Sykora, who has a team-high 32 goals. He may become the first player to lead the Ducks in goals other than Kariya or Teemu Selanne since Bob Corkum scored 23 in the expansion season of 1993-94.

Sykora, who went without a shot for only the second game this season against St. Louis on Thursday, scored twice in the second period, erasing a 2-0 San Jose lead.

“Petr shoots the puck,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “That’s what he’s got to do.”

Usually what Giguere does is stop just about everything. But he wobbled after giving after giving up a power play 15 minutes into the game. Vincent Damphousse redirected a shot at the crease, with the puck tumbling slowly over Giguere’s head and into the net.

“Well that was an ugly game,” Giguere said. “The puck was bouncing everywhere. But I’ll take it.”

Why not? It gave him 32 victories this season, one more than Guy Hebert’s season record set in 1998-99.

“That just reflects good on the team,” Giguere said. “It shows how hard they work have played in front of me all year.”

The Ducks have trailed in the second period in the last six games yet won three and tied one in that time, and picked up a point in an overtime loss as well.

Sykora put some life into the Ducks when he ricocheted a shot off the right post and into the net to make it 2-1 at 13:16 of the second period. Three minutes later, Kariya led Sykora so perfectly with a cross-ice pass that it looked like a shooting drill in practice. Sykora faked Nabokov before sliding the puck into the open net