Throughout these Stanley Cup finals, Anaheim captain Paul Kariya has been the subject of unusually harsh criticism.
At $10 million a season, Kariya is the highest-paid player in the series, as well as its most offensively gifted.
“I haven’t been playing well the first part of the series,” Kariya acknowledged before Game 6 Saturday night. “I knew it was going to come.”
It came Saturday. After managing just one assist and six shots on goal through the first five games, Kariya had a goal and two assists in the Mighty Ducks’ 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils that squared the series at 3-3.
Game 7 will be Monday night in East Rutherford, N.J.
More impressive than Kariya’s points was the courage he demonstrated in the second period.
The Ducks were leading 3-1 at the 6-minute-16-second mark when Kariya passed the puck to his left and into the New Jersey zone. Watching his pass, Kariya failed to see New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens, the fiercest body checker in the league, closing on his right.
Stevens drilled Kariya with his shoulder, dropping the 5-foot-10-inch, 182-pound winger in his tracks.
“I sensed he was there, but I thought I had more time,” Kariya said. “That’s Scott’s game. He’s patient with his hits and he times them right. I thought it was a little bit late.”
The hit was reminiscent of Stevens’ drilling of New York Rangers center Eric Lindros in Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference finals. Lindros sustained a concussion and is still battling the effects.
“Lindros was carrying the puck,” said Anaheim coach Mike Babcock, who argued for a penalty on Stevens’ hit. “That would be the difference.”
NHL executive vice president Colin Campbell released a statement saying Stevens’ hit was legal. It occurred “less than one second after Kariya made the pass,” Campbell said.
Kariya’s legs were wobbly as he was helped off the ice and into the Anaheim dressing room. In 1998 he took a hit from then-Hawks defenseman Gary Suter that cost him 28 games and an appearance in the Olympics.
“I was pretty clear,” Kariya said. “I went to the dressing room. The doctors did some tests. I felt great.”
As he lay on the ice, though, it appeared the Ducks would have to hold on to their lead without their captain. But at the 10:47 mark, Kariya returned to a huge ovation from the sellout crowd.
“It was a nice lift,” Kariya said.
Seven minutes later he gave them reason to cheer again, laying into a slap shot hard enough to exorcise his demons from the first five games. He ripped it over Martin Brodeur’s shoulder to make it a 4-1 game.
“What a sign of leadership,” said Anaheim center Steve Rucchin, who got the Ducks started with two first-period goals. “I can’t say enough about that play.”
The home team has won each of the first six games of the series and the Devils–now an unsightly 4-7 on the road in the playoffs–will try to become the first team since the 1965 Montreal Canadiens to win the Cup by winning all four of its home games.
The Devils will also try to avoid the fate of the ’71 Blackhawks, the only team to win the first three games of a seven-game series at home and lose Game 7. That Montreal victory in the ’71 finals is also the last time a road team has won a Game 7 of the finals.
“We’ve got a one-game shot to win the Cup,” Babcock said.
The city of Anaheim is familiar with seemingly lost causes making dramatic turnarounds.
Before Game 6, the video scoreboard at Arrowhead Pond showed highlights from Game 6 of last season’s World Series, when the Angels trailed the San Francisco Giants 5-0 after six innings, only to rally to win that game and force a Game 7, which they also won.
The scoreboard also displayed this fact: The last team to blow a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup finals was the New Jersey Devils in 2001.
Barely five minutes into the game, the Ducks had the lead. A Kariya pass deflected off a Devil’s skate and to Rucchin, whose shot was going wide until it hit Stevens’ skate and slipped past Brodeur.
