Numbers Game Is Not in Their Favor

How bad things were for the Mighty Ducks on Tuesday in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was evident by connecting a few numbers.

Second period shots: Ducks four.

Marc Chouinard two, Dan Bylsma one, top Duck goal scorers one.

Final score: New Jersey 3, Ducks 0.

Chouinard and Bylsma are solid fourth-line players, along with center Jason Krog. They grind and cause some turmoil. But the Ducks are better off getting shots from those named Paul Kariya, Petr Sykora, Steve Rucchin and Steve Thomas, to name a few.

The Ducks had only 16 shots in the loss. The Devils took Duck goal scorers out of the play, banging them around in the neutral zone and bottling them up if they managed to get near goalie Martin Brodeur.

“The second period, we just stopped making plays,” Kariya said.

*

A new knick-knack was on display in the Duck dressing room for the Stanley Cup finals.

A white goalie stick, with three souvenir pucks attached to it -- one that said Red Wings, one Stars, one Wild. They represented Detroit, Dallas and Minnesota, the three teams that the Ducks have beaten to get to the finals. Room for a fourth puck was left at the top of the stick.

“That was a tradition [Coach] Mike [Babcock] had in the past,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “It’s to remind us what it took to get here.”

On the blade of the stick are names and initials of friends and relatives of Duck players.

“Those are people we wished could be here to see this and people back home we wanted to be here,” Carney said.

The stick was hung just below a photo of the Stanley Cup, which has traveled with the Ducks since the playoffs began.

*

Kariya has had the season of his life, helping get the Ducks to the finals. One thing, though, is missing.

Teemu Selanne, now with San Jose.

The two are close friends and played together for nearly six seasons in Anaheim.

“It would have been nice to have him here,” Kariya said. “He felt that San Jose was the right team for him at this point in his career.”