Rucchin Declares Himself Fit

The most frightening sight for the Mighty Ducks on Wednesday wasn’t Dallas’ Mike Modano with an open net to shoot at in the third period.

The worst-fears scene came later in the period, when Duck center Steve Rucchin was slammed into the boards by defenseman Derian Hatcher. Rucchin took several seconds to get up, skated up ice, then meandered to the Duck bench after play had stopped.

He returned later, and pronounced himself fit Thursday morning at the Arrowhead Pond.

“It was just one of those things that happens,” Rucchin said. “I went down awkwardly. It’s not a big deal.”

Of course, injuries in the playoffs never are a big deal, at least not the initial reports. Hiding injuries is as much a playoff tradition as the winning team taking a swig of champagne from the Stanley Cup.

But Rucchin seemed no worse for wear, walking without a limp after receiving treatment Thursday.

“No one is completely healthy at this time of the season,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s fine.”

He had better be, from the Ducks’ perspective.

The Ducks are within one victory of the Western Conference finals because of a team effort. Still, there are three players who have stood out in the crowd: goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, defenseman Keith Carney and Rucchin.

Rucchin has been a pain around the net for opponents. He scored the overtime game-winner against Detroit in Game 4. He has two goals in the Dallas series.

His work at the other end of the ice has been equally exceptional. He hounded Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov into submission and has bottled up Modano.

“He’s the reason we have had success,” Babcock said.

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Pucks were taking bad hops or simply not sliding as they should. Players were falling without provocation.

But was bad ice to blame for these follies during the Ducks’ 1-0 victory over Dallas Wednesday? Officials of the Pond say no, even though the ice in Anaheim has developed a reputation among players as being far from ideal.

“The ice was no different than it usually is,” said Mike Leclerc, who scored the game’s only goal. “It’s always been kind of bad here.”

Not so, said Kevin Starkey, director of operations for the Pond. He also said Dan Craig, the Edmonton-based ice guru who is the NHL’s facilities operations manager, was in Anaheim this week to ensure temperatures on the ice and in the arena were at optimum levels for a good ice surface.

Surface temperature is supposed to be between 20 and 22 degrees and the ambient temperature in the building is supposed to be 60 to 66 degrees, and Starkey said the Pond was within those limits.

“We hit all of our numbers,” he said. “We heard no complaints from anyone. We have a graph that shows temperatures every 15 minutes and we were where we wanted to be.”

Starkey also said that maintaining hard, fast ice won’t become more difficult should the Ducks continue their playoff run and the weather become warmer. The latest the Ducks have played is May 8, the date in 1997 when they lost the finale of their second-round series to Detroit.

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Two other aspects of the Ducks’ working environment do bother Giguere.

While Dallas goalie Marty Turco likes to handle the puck and frequently leaves the net to play it and move it up ice, Giguere tends to be more reticent. He said he used to be more adventurous when he played at the junior level but curbed that tendency when he got to Anaheim.

“Since I got here, I found I was turning it over,” he said. “I don’t like the glass and the boards and I find I get myself in trouble if I play it. I’ll play it if I’m sure I’m not going to get in trouble.

“Turco is probably the best in the league at it. He doesn’t turn it over at all. I found with the boards being the way they are, most of the time I was giving it back, so why bother?”

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After playing four games in seven days, the Ducks and Stars are taking two days off before Game 5 Saturday in Dallas. Players were looking at the mini-break two ways.

“When you win, you want to get right back out there and get more,” right wing Steve Thomas said. “When you lose you want to get right back out there and erase that.”

Still ...

“There is nothing wrong with a day off,” Giguere said. “We can use the rest.”

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Since the NHL went to a conference-based, 16-team playoff format in 1994, no team has defeated a No. 1- and No. 2-seeded team in the same season. The Ducks already have beaten second-seeded Detroit and are one victory away from eliminating top-seeded Dallas.