Ducks Show Their Might in 3-1 Victory Over Kings

It was the third Monday night in November, and the entertainment choices were intimidating.

Watch for news of the NBA lockout . . . or watch Kings versus Ducks?

Watch Alonzo Mourning wearing suits and granny glasses . . . or watch Kings versus Ducks?

Watch Michael Jordan get the shakes while giving a Las Vegas speech that was not in front of a craps table . . . or watch Kings versus Ducks?

I love excitement, drama and violence.

But I still chose hockey.

This was big stuff, the first meeting of the year between two teams who, less than 20 games into the season, have already done the impossible.

They have lost angry, frustrated fans during a labor dispute that is, well, not their labor dispute.

After years of sharing the stage with a loudmouth, they finally have it all to themselves because of the NBA dumb-out, and what happens?

They lose their voice.

On one bench Monday was the Kings, whose best-known active employee is a woman.

On the other bench was the Ducks, who are part of the most unique and difficult trivia question of this young NHL season:

Who is their head coach?

Watching all of this Monday at the Pond was, like, nobody.

For the first time in recent memory, there were empty seats at this rivalry, just as there have been empty seats at most of the home games involving these teams this season.

Forget about stealing NBA fans. They aren’t even stealing hockey fans.

By the way, the Ducks are clearly the better team right now, and clearly won Monday in a 3-1 decision.

If anyone cares.

Said Tim Leiweke, King president: “There has been a window of opportunity here because of the NBA lockout, but we have not taken advantage of it.”

Said Paul Kariya, Duck emperor: “Yeah, you’d have thought we’d get more people.”

To understand the Kings’ situation, you simply had to be in your seat on time.

In the first minutes Monday, King winger Craig Johnson had an open shot in front of the goal. And promptly dumped it into Guy Hebert’s pads.

Then midway through the first period, defenseman Mark Visheau decided to get revenge for a broken thumb suffered during a fight with Duck enforcer Stu Grimson.

But by going after Grimson again? They don’t call him “The Grim Reaper” because he’s always getting killed in these things.

This fight was stopped before Reaper, standing over Visheau’s kneeling body, removed his head.

Then there was the King power play, which had scored on one of its last 44 opportunities at one point Monday night, in a league where the average team connects on one of six attempts.

The good news for King fans is that somebody finally scored on that power play.

The bad news is that it was the Ducks.

It was their first goal, a short-handed beauty by Travis Green after struggling Steve Duchesne failed to knock it in the corner of an open net.

Another bleak night for the Kings. “You can’t get the puck in, can’t get it out, it hops around, nothing goes your way,” Leiweke said.

The Ducks’ situation is not nearly so, uh, grim. To understand it, just look at who scored their first two goals. It was Green’s first of the year, and Johan Davidsson’s first of his career.

Because new General Manager Pierre Gauthier took control in summer after some of the top free agents had been signed, he started late. And so the roster is filled with many young players who still need time, or role players who still need adjustment.

But the Ducks are getting better.

According to Kariya--who with Teemu Selanne still make this an exciting team--they can even be better than the 1996-97 team that captivated the town.

“We are younger than that team, the upside here is a lot greater,” said Kariya, fully recovered from last year’s scary concussion. “The players are growing, we have leadership.”

But will the Kings get better?

They claim they will, when injured Rob Blake and the two injured goalies return, all by the end of the year.

“You tell me how many teams could do well when they lose the heart of their defense like that,” said Luc Robitaille.

But that still doesn’t address the power play, or the public mandate that the Kings do what it takes to acquire a big scorer or risk losing credibility.

Leiweke said he will not mortgage the future to trade for a one-year fix, or break the bank to buy one.

“We will not sell our soul, or make a deal we will regret,” he said. “The frustration will end . . . if we all just hang in there.”

Do we have a choice? The Kings’ patience worked last season. Perhaps it will work again.

The Ducks, it seems, need only to play together more while relying on inspiration from that trivia question.

“There is no magic formula,” said Craig Hartsburg, their new head coach. “We’re just trying to be a solid team.

For him, that was a dramatic reading. Hartsburg is Disney’s kind of guy in that he has the public personality of a puck.

But, hey, he can sting like one.

The other night against Carolina, with the team trailing 3-1 after two periods, he came inside and started ricocheting off heads. “He almost destroyed the dressing room,” said Selanne.

Hartsburg claimed he didn’t even get mad.

“Then I don’t want to see him when he does get mad,” Selanne said.

Whatever he did, his team then outdid him, scoring four goals in the final period and overtime to win, 5-4.

The Kings most compelling moment?

It occurred during their second home game a month ago. They lost goalies Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr to groin injuries in the same period. They haven’t won a home game since.

Not that anyone has noticed.