It’s Still Duck Season

With two minutes left, the ovation began. At one minute, the roar rose another step. And as the crowd at the Pond triumphantly counted down the final seconds, the Mighty Ducks converged on goalie Guy Hebert, who might have been the calmest guy in the building.

It was the most dramatic moment in Mighty Duck history, but the Ducks made sure they took almost all the drama out of the decisive seventh game, beating the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-0, in front of 17,174 Tuesday night to become the seventh team in NHL history to win its first Stanley Cup playoff series.

They’ll play the Red Wings in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals beginning Friday in Detroit.

“It was a good celebration, but not too much. We’re still looking ahead to the next round,” said winger Joe Sacco, who scored the Ducks’ third goal and is one of three players left from the original team.

Last in the NHL nearly two months into the season, the Ducks are one of the final eight teams in the playoffs.

“I think right now we can enjoy this win, maybe have a party tonight,” Teemu Selanne said. “Tomorrow, we start the next series. We can’t be too excited. We want to think about the second round. . . . This series was a big challenge for us, especially being down, 3-2.”

The Ducks came back from the brink to beat Phoenix, surviving sudden-death overtime to win Game 6 in Phoenix, then decking the Coyotes on home-ice in Game 7.

“We fought 82 games to get home-ice advantage, and we took it,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We’ve been in two elimination games, and we’re 2-0.”

“Game 6 was the one we stumbled in,” Phoenix Coach Don Hay said. “It was an opportunity to put ourselves in a good situation. We didn’t look after business in Game 6.”

The Ducks did their best not to let it become a dramatic finish. Hebert made 31 saves for the first playoff shutout of his career, never facing a more dangerous shot than the one Keith Tkachuk rang off the left post in the first period.

When the game ended, both teams lined up for the traditional series-ending handshake, where Selanne hugged former teammate Keith Tkachuk, whose bruising play couldn’t outdo the Ducks’ speed. Paul Kariya hugged Cliff Ronning, one of the little men who have proved there is a place for small players in the NHL.

On the bench, injured Phoenix star Jeremy Roenick leaned on his crutches to shake hands, unable to help his team try to corral Kariya one last time.

Roenick’s half-joking advice to those who inherited his assignment: “Close your eyes and cross your fingers.

“If he gets to the red line with a lot of speed, you can be in a lot of trouble,” Roenick said.

That turned out to be an understatement.

Kariya made a length-of-the-ice sprint with the puck that started behind his own net and didn’t end until he was on the doorstep of the Coyotes’ goal.

He left Dallas Drake foundering on the ice around the blue line, raced up the right-wing boards, then went around defenseman Teppo Numminen as easily as a pylon as he swooped in on goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Kariya’s shot bounced back in front of the net, and center Steve Rucchin was there to put in the rebound for a 2-0 lead 3:12 into the second period.

The Ducks opened the game with an aggressive forechecking strategy, and paid off early as they poured pressure on Phoenix’s defensemen.

It was the persistence and energy of the fourth line--Sean Pronger, Ken Baumgartner and Richard Park--that set up a Duck goal only 3:11 into the game with a series of big hits and scrambling plays that kept the puck in Phoenix’s end.

When they finally pried the puck free, defenseman Dmitri Mironov sent it over to defenseman Dave Karpa--the player who thought the scarecrow’s problem in the Wizard of Oz was that he was “scared.”

Karpa is more of an agitator than a scorer, with 210 penalty minutes and only two goals this season. But he calmly let the puck carom off the right-wing boards, then one-timed a shot from the point that beat goalie Nikolai Khabibulin to the far side of the net. It was a two-point night for Karpa, who also had an assist.

“This is what the playoffs are all about,” said Karpa, who scored only two goals all season but had a goal and an assist Tuesday. “There can be a different hero any night. Paul [Kariya] and Teemu [Selanne] carried us all along. They’re great players. Game 7 or not, they’re going to get free.”

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NHL PLAYOFFS

MIGHTY DUCKS vs. PHOENIX

Ducks win series, 4-3

* Game 1: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 2: Mighty Ducks, 4-2

* Game 3: Coyotes, 4-1

* Game 4: Coyotes, 2-0

* Game 5: Coyotes, 5-2

* Game 6: Mighty Ducks, 3-2 (OT)

* Game 7: Mighty Ducks, 3-0