Corkum, Sacco Finally Break Through

As sighs of relief go, the ones breathed by Mighty Ducks Bob Corkum and Joe Sacco Friday were huge.

Corkum let his go 11 minutes 14 seconds into the game, Sacco 1:02 into the second period. They followed the players’ first goals of the season by mere nanoseconds.

By game’s end, the Ducks had scored seven goals, so neither was particularly memorable to anyone but Corkum and Sacco. But rest assured they meant a great deal to the two.

Neither had exactly started the season on Coach Ron Wilson’s good side. Both earned spots in Wilson’s doghouse as the Ducks staggered out of the gate with a 2-8 record.

Then came the great turnaround.

It began on the road last week at Dallas and St. Louis. The Ducks picked up their game and so did Corkum and Sacco.

Yet neither player could put the puck in the net until the Ducks’ 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers Friday at The Pond.

“It’s huge for those guys,” Wilson said. “Now, they can stop worrying about getting their first goal.”

Corkum said he’d stopped thinking about it perhaps five games ago, knowing if he kept pressing nothing good would happen. So, he turned to improving other parts of his game--forechecking, passing, driving to the net for rebounds.

Sacco adopted a similar attitude.

For Corkum, it paid off in his 12th game of the season, when Paul Kariya slipped a beauty of a backhander to him on the left wing. Corkum wound up and beat Ranger goalie Glenn Healy for the Ducks’ first goal.

“I got it on net and in for a change,” said Corkum, whose last goal was last May 3 against Toronto. “It’s definitely nice to get that first one.”

Sacco’s goal came in his ninth game and also was his first point of the season. It was a bit of a fluke, but Sacco wasn’t about to throw it back.

Taking a pass from Todd Krygier, Sacco skated through the neutral zone and unleased a slap shot from the blue line. The puck might have been deflected by diving defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and found its way into the net.

“Hopefully, Corky and I can start pitching in with more scoring,” said Sacco, whose last goal was last April 13 against Calgary. “It’s nice to get the monkey off my back.”

Sacco’s goal gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead en route to their third consecutive victory. Although the Rangers rallied in the third period and outshot the Ducks, 32-22, Sacco said all the Ducks’ shots seemed to be great scoring chances.

“We’ve got guys who are much more gifted offensively now,” Sacco said.

Indeed, Corkum and Sacco were among the Ducks’ top producers in their inaugural season. Lately, they’ve played on the third and fourth lines.