Ducks and Kings Get Off to Cold Start : Hockey: Anaheim is mighty rusty, but not Edmonton rookie Joe Oliver, who scores and assists in 2-1 Oiler victory.

EDMONTON — It was the rookie’s first game--at last--and by the end of the second period he had served notice to the NHL that he had arrived.

His name is David Oliver, and he plays for the Edmonton Oilers.

Rookie Paul Kariya, already the Mighty Ducks’ best player before he ever played a minute in the NHL, didn’t have a goal or an assist in his debut, a 2-1 loss to Edmonton on the first night of the shortened NHL season.

“I think Paul was a little nervous the first part of the game, but Paul was probably the least nervous of the three guys on his line,” said Duck Coach Ron Wilson, who paired Kariya and fellow rookie Valeri Karpov with veteran center Anatoli Semenov on the first line, just as he did with such success during the exhibition season in September. “It took Tony Semenov two periods to get going, and Valeri Karpov was playing his first game in the NHL for real and showed a lot of nervousness.”

Kariya, whose own play lacked the precision he showed during the exhibition season, twice set up Karpov with passes through the crease, but Karpov failed to control either with his stick. Just how nervous his linemates might have been was beyond Kariya, the only native English speaker of the three.

“It’s hard to read those guys, because, well, Tony speaks English but Val’s pretty quiet,” he said. “But hockey is a sport where once you start playing, the nervousness goes away, at least for me.”

Friday night, hockey was a sport that seemed to belong to the goalies and to the youngsters who have been playing in the minors, not to those who have been practicing only a week.

A typically subdued crowd of 14,967--a little more than the average attendance last season at Northlands Coliseum--cheered when the puck was dropped for the opening faceoff, but otherwise there was little indication that the season was starting 3 1/2 months late, except for the sluggish and imprecise play.

Oliver, who scored the first goal of the game and assisted on the second, probably stood out simply because he has been playing since October. He had 32 minor league games this season before he was called up from Cape Breton in the American League the day after the labor dispute was settled.

The Ducks countered with rookies Steve Rucchin and David Sacco, who have also been in the minors, and both were among the more solid performers.

Many of the veterans clearly haven’t gotten their timing back, as both teams were unable to capitalize on chances around the net. A pass through the slot as a teammate crashed the net often turned into nothing at all.

“We had the chance to score. It’s a matter of timing and it’s only been a week,” Kariya said. “A play like that, the timing has got to be right on or it’s very difficult to execute.”

Oiler goalie Bill Ranford’s reflexes were fine, and he stopped all but one of the Ducks’ 30 shots, giving up a goal on a power play at 5:02 of the third period when Semenov deflected a shot by point man Tom Kurvers.

The Ducks’ Guy Hebert made 27 saves and had little chance on either goal. Wilson said Hebert was victimized by poor or delayed line changes on both. Oliver scored the first goal of his NHL career on a power play at 5:28 of the second when Doug Weight passed to him near the left goal post from slightly behind the net on the right side. Oliver assisted on the other goal, by Shayne Corson at 12:57.

Kariya’s first NHL game wasn’t memorable.

“It was interesting to say the least,” he said. “I was getting into the flow at first. As the game went on, we had some pretty good chances.”

He has made plenty of debuts, including in the Olympics and World Championships.

“The first game you’re really, I don’t know if it’s nervous, but the adrenaline is flowing,” he said. “It’s important to stay calm, even more so.”

As for his long-delayed debut, he said, “I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to start on time, but I never thought we’d be starting in January. It’s good to get the first one under your belt.”

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Duck Notes

A bleary-eyed Patrik Carnback was in the press box after arriving from Sweden on Friday, two days later than the team had hoped. His Swedish team, Goteborg, objected to his leaving because he agreed to play the entire season there after the lockout began. However, he is also under contract to the Ducks. “I just left,” he said. “I’m here now. What can they do?” He chose to return after the Ducks agreed to give him a contract extension and raise from the $200,000 he made last season.