Ducks Plod to 2-0 Victory, and Page Does Slow Burn

The Mighty Ducks’ 2-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils cannot accurately be described as being as dull as a staring contest. But certainly, each team spent plenty of time Wednesday looking at its opponent’s neutral-zone trap.

Forget end-to-end rushes. The real “action’ witnessed by 17,174 patient souls at the Pond was at center ice. More than once, all 10 skaters seemed to be caught in a bottleneck between the blue lines.

The game cried out for a skillful player to take control and enliven a tedious contest of defensive wills. But there was no one to answer the call.

Restricted free agent Paul Kariya remained unsigned and at home in Vancouver, pondering a move to join the Canadian national team.

The Ducks sorely missed Kariya’s offensive wizardry for the 26th game. Like most of the Devils’ opponents this season, the Ducks misfired against their neutral-zone trap and goaltender Martin Brodeur. Scoring chances were few and far between and shots on net weren’t much easier to come by.

The Ducks managed to take a 1-0 lead at 14:42 of the first period on center Mark Janssens’ first goal this season and his 100th NHL career point. Steve Rucchin added an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.

Duck goalie Guy Hebert stopped all 29 shots he faced for his second shutout in the past three games and Brodeur lost for the first time in 13 games.

The Ducks’ 10-11-5 record is their best after 26 games in their five-season history, but clearly something--or rather someone--is missing.

More than sorting out their defensive troubles and lack of firepower from forwards other than Teemu Selanne, what the Ducks need is a healthy and happy Kariya in the lineup.

Coach Pierre Page continued to rail at the circumstances surrounding Kariya’s absence, affixing equal blame to the player and the team for failing to come to an agreement.

“We’ve gone past the point of common sense,” Page said in his first lengthy interview about Kariya in more than a month. “You have to believe we’re trying to solve it. It’s not going to get solved by itself. You hope all sides want to make a deal.

“It makes me puke when people say we should just do what the Marlins did [by spending lavishly in baseball’s free-agent market]. They lost what? Thirty-million dollars? How many people think what the Marlins did is right? I can’t believe 80% of the people think that’s right, because it’s damn wrong.”

Page continues to seek a way to help end the stalemate. Friends have advised him he would be wise to stop speaking out to reporters. It hasn’t been easy to keep quiet, however.

“For some reason I didn’t see this coming,” he said. “I shouldn’t be surprised. I should just have learned how to deal with it. I shouldn’t get mad.”

However, Page steadfastly refused to use Kariya’s absence as a reason for the Ducks’ 1-6-1 record in the eight games going into Wednesday. As he has from the start of training camp, Page called it an excuse.

“It’s an excuse and I refuse to use it,” he said. “We don’t think about it.”

Kariya, who hasn’t spoken to reporters since the summer, apparently still has the full support of the Duck players, according to defenseman Bobby Dollas.

“I know for myself, I think it would be selfish to say I wish he were here,” said Dollas, who expects to return next week after a month’s absence because of a severed tendon in his left forearm. “It would be selfish to say I wish he was sitting right there [by his locker stall] and getting that extra goal in every game.”