Emotions Help Put Ducks Into Second Round

Warren Rychel wore the wounds of victory well Tuesday night in the victorious Mighty Ducks’ dressing room.

There was gash on his nose. His left eyebrow was swollen to golf-ball size and quickly turning a deep purple. There was an abrasion on his left arm.

“We paid the price maybe a little more than they did,” Rychel said after the Ducks’ 3-0 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in the seventh and deciding game at the Pond.

Someone asked Rychel if the Ducks were particularly emotional for Game 7. “You have to be emotional,” Rychel said. “Seventh game. In your own building. This is what you dream of.”

Perhaps that was the major difference from the Ducks’ lackluster performance in a 5-2 loss to the Coyotes in Game 5 and a victory in Game 7.

“Coming into Game 5, we made the mistake of not taking it to them,” Rychel said. “[Tuesday] we kept pressing ahead. Everybody played well.”

The Ducks took nothing for chance this time, according to winger Joe Sacco. It was Sacco’s second-period goal that provided the Ducks a 3-0 lead and some much-needed breathing room.

Sacco, an original Duck playing in his first Stanley Cup playoff series, picked up a rebound and fired a low shot that beat Phoenix goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin at the 8:19 mark of the second period.

“I saw the puck and I put a quick shot on net,” Sacco said after getting his first point of the series. “It felt nice to finally chip in and help out offensively. I’ll definitely take that one.”

Brian Bellows, who won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, leaped into Sacco’s arms after the goal. Later, Bellows said winning a playoff series never gets old.

“It was a little anticlimactic because it was 3-0 for so long,” Bellows said after his 118th career playoff game. “Maybe you start looking ahead to the next series a little quicker, you know, starting to prepare mentally for the next opponent.”

Bellows said the first playoff goals by Sacco and Steve Rucchin would help ease their nerves for the next series.

“It was huge for him and Rucchin,” Bellows said. “The first goal is very big. It clears the way for them not to think about getting it in the next series.”

Sacco and Rucchin weren’t the only unlikely heroes for the Ducks in Game 7. Defenseman Dave Karpa scored the game’s first goal, blasting a slap shot from the right point past Khabibulin only 3:11 into the game.

Karpa also assisted on Rucchin’s second-period goal for his first playoff points. Karpa did not believe any of the bit players’ contributions should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Ducks’ method of operation this season.

“We’ve been doing this for the last three months, trying to get into the playoffs,” Karpa said. “The mood was a little tense in here before the game, but some guys were telling jokes and keeping it loose.”