Ducks End Season on High Note : Hockey: Their 6-1 victory at The Pond over playoff-bound Toronto signals promise for the future.

The Mighty Ducks did what only Stanley Cup champions and non-playoff teams can do. They won the last game of their season, beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1, Wednesday night at The Pond of Anaheim.

Randy Wood scored the only goal for the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, who had nothing to play for after Chicago won home ice in their first-round playoff series by beating the Kings earlier in the evening.

As for the Ducks, rookie Steve Rucchin had a goal and two assists, and Milos Holan, Randy Ladouceur, Shaun Van Allen, Bob Corkum and rookie Paul Kariya also scored. Defenseman Darren Van Impe recorded an assist in his NHL debut.

With that, the expansion team has put two seasons in its rear-view mirror. The Ducks were last in the Western Conference--finishing behind the Kings for the first time--but managed to stay in the playoff race until two games remained.

Their 16-27-5 record in the 48-game irregular season wasn’t as successful as their 33-46-5 first season, but the team made progress by shedding expansion players for younger players to complement such budding stars as Kariya and Oleg Tverdovsky.

“We made a lot of changes and added a lot of good young players,” right wing Joe Sacco said. “It was a tough transition with all the changes, but we stuck with it and made a good run at the playoffs. Unfortunately we fell short. The team is headed in the right direction.”

This July, they have an opportunity to add another top-notch youngster at the NHL draft. The Ducks are one of five teams with a chance to secure the top pick in the NHL’s first lottery.

The Ducks finished with 37 points, nine points behind the Florida Panthers, who joined the league at the same time.

The big story of the Ducks’ season, though, was the debut of Kariya, who led the team in scoring with 18 goals and 39 points. Tverdovsky needed more seasoning, but the defenseman’s speed and stick-handling sometimes rival Kariya for pure flash. Rucchin went largely unnoticed while making the jump from Canadian college hockey to the NHL, but he should be a core player for the team.