Hebert Nostalgic After His Shutout

If goaltender Guy Hebert had to rank his 15 career shutouts, Saturday’s 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues would be near the top. It came at the home of the team that originally drafted him.

“This is always kind of a special place to come back and play,” said Hebert, who was selected by the Ducks in the expansion draft in 1993.

“Even though a lot of personnel have changed, it’s still where I got my start. It’s kind of special. You still see some people you recognize in the stands from time to time.”

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Blues’ winger Brett Hull will remember the game for a different reason.

“That was the worst-ever hooking and grab-fest I’ve ever been a part of,” Hull said. “People saw something they’ll never witness again: rodeo on ice.

Five roughing, two hooking and one high-sticking penalties were called.

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More memories? How about Jeremy Stevenson scoring his first NHL goal.

He already has plans for the puck.

“At the end of the year, hopefully I’ll get a house and that’ll be my first souvenir,” Stevenson said. “Right when you walk in the door, you’ll see that.”

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One indication of how ineffective Teemu Selanne’s teammates have been is he does not have an assist since Nov. 2.

But if he wants to break out of that slump, he’ll have to come up with better solutions than passing to Joe Sacco. That’s what Selanne did toward the end of the first period, when he passed to Sacco on a two-on-one. Sacco’s only goal this season came on a penalty shot against Montreal on Nov. 12.

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It’s hard to think of the Ducks’ recent winless streak as an improvement, but their record of 8-7-5 through the first 20 games of the season marked the NHL’s second-best improvement from a year ago. The Ducks’ 21 points were 10 better than their 1996-97 start. Montreal’s 13-5-2 start was 11 points better than last season.

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Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei suffered a charley horse that limited his play, but he should play Monday at the Dallas Stars.

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Darren Van Impe and Kevin Todd were healthy scratches for the Ducks. Bobby Dollas (severed left forearm tendon), Shawn Antoski (abdominal strain) and Brent Severyn (herniated disk) were out with injuries.

Harry York, Jamie Rivers and Joe Murphy (torn left wrist ligaments) and Pierre Turgeon (broken right forearm) were scratches for St. Louis.