Kariya the Mightiest Duck of All

ANAHEIM —  It might be one of the corniest things in sports, but it’s also one of the truest: Some people are just winners. Paul Kariya is one of them, and if you want to put a number on it, try this: The Mighty Ducks have won 25 games this season, and seven times, the game-winning goal came from Kariya. Three times, he’s decked the other team in overtime.

He won another Sunday, when he beat the Kings with a spectacular goal off a thread-the-needle pass from Teemu Selanne with 4 minutes 25 seconds left in the game. The Ducks’ 3-2 victory in front of 17,174 at the Pond pulled them back to six points behind Winnipeg for the final Western Conference playoff spot, and one point behind the Kings, who are five back and missed a chance to close to three.

It was the second game in three days won by Kariya, who beat Buffalo in overtime Friday night even though his lip was split so badly he required six stitches.

He didn’t need overtime Sunday, and King Coach Larry Robinson saw the play unfolding and could have groaned.

“I told them from the start, if there’s anyone to pay attention to, it’s Selanne and Kariya,” Robinson said. “Who scores the winning goal? Selanne-Kariya. I blame the guys who were on the ice. You have to know who you’re playing against. We had experienced guys on the ice who should have known.”

Kariya scored the tying goal as well, beating goaltender Byron Dafoe with the Ducks on a power play at 7:09 of the second after taking another seeing-eye pass from Selanne.

It was strikingly similar to the goal that won the game--Kariya’s 40th of the season. He is the eighth NHL player to reach that mark this season.

“That last one was amazing, unbelievable,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said.

With the third period winding down and the Ducks sweeping in on Dafoe, Selanne slid the puck through what Wilson called “a maze of sticks and legs” and right to Kariya’s feet, just a bit behind him as Marty McSorley tried futilely to hold him off from in front.

“Teemu and I are starting to get to know each other,” Kariya said. “He knows where I like the puck, and that I like it almost behind me in that situation, so I can reach back and shoot it almost off my back foot.

“Obviously the guy scored 76 goals, he’s got to be one of the top goal-scorers in the league. He has speed and strength, that’s so obvious, but I think the best aspect of his game is his passing. He puts the puck through legs like [Wayne] Gretzky.”

Before Selanne joined the Ducks, Kariya was sometimes a winner trapped in loser’s clothing. But the Feb. 7 trade has invigorated him.

“You see a lot more fire in his eyes,” Wilson said. “With Teemu Selanne out there, he sees someone he thinks is a peer, skill-wise. One reason behind making the deal was to make sure Paul didn’t get too frustrated, feeling like he was the only guy on the ice who was our go-to guy.”

Now there are two of them.

“When the game is real tight, talking with Paul, we know we are the guys who can win this game,” Selanne said. “It’s a great challenge for us to have to push ourselves. Paul is a big winner. He wants to win games the same as me, and I hate to lose.”

If they are only beginning to get to know each other, that’s something the Kings should worry about.

“They’re only going to get better and better,” said Jari Kurri, who scored the Kings’ first goal on a five-on-three power play, but also had a hand in the Ducks’ first, making a bad pass that Joe Sacco intercepted and turned into a shorthanded goal.

“Who knows,” Dafoe said. “Maybe they will be the next Gretzky and Kurri.”

*

Duck Notes

The Ducks’ Todd Ewen is expected to receive an automatic two-game NHL suspension after getting his fourth game-misconduct penalty of the season when he joined a tussle between the Kings’ Steven Finn and the Ducks’ Garry Valk. Ewen served a one-game suspension Feb. 26 after receiving his third game misconduct of the year, but the penalty is increased by a game with each additional game misconduct. “I may protest the automatic suspension,” Ewen said . . . Patrice Tardif scored his first goal as a King, making the score, 2-1, on a second-period power play. . . . The teams combined for 29 penalties and 108 penalty minutes. “It was sort of the WWF out there,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. Duck defenseman Randy Ladouceur, the team captain, was a healthy scratch for the first time since Oct. 27. . . . Duck winger Peter Douris and his wife, Pam, had a baby girl Sunday, Ava Raelle.