Determined Ducks Stare Down Devils

ANAHEIM — 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 gazing at the opponent’s neutral-zone trap.

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

“It’s quite boring hockey, but it’s the only way to play against these guys,” said Teemu Selanne, who had an assist to break a five-game drought without a point.

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

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

“It’s very painful for us,” team president Tony Tavares said. “We want him here. He makes our jobs a lot easier when he’s out on the ice. I’d like to tell you it’s baby steps [toward a new deal], but that’s overstating it. We agree that Paul’s one of the best, if not the best, players in the league. Beyond that we haven’t found much in agreement.”

The Ducks sorely missed Kariya’s offensive wizardry for the 26th game this season.

Like most of the Devils’ opponents this season, the Ducks were frustrated by 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 last 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 Selanne, what the Ducks need most 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 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.”