Oiler Goalie Unforgettable to Ducks Now

EDMONTON —  Whether the Mighty Ducks misgauged Joaquin Gage will remain their own secret after the Edmonton goaltender some of them had never heard of until Sunday beat them, 3-1.

Duck Coach Ron Wilson, on the other hand, gauged the width of Gage’s stick blade correctly. It was illegal, wider than the 3 1/2-inch limit, and the resulting penalty with 1:08 remaining, combined with the Ducks pulling their goaltender on a power play gave them a six-on-three advantage.

Wilson’s gamesmanship succeeded, but it didn’t change the outcome. A flurry of penalties over the final two minutes helped keep the Ducks from scoring, much less tying.

It was a frantic final minute or so for Gage, who broke his substitute stick when he took a whack at a Duck in front of the net. He ended up with defenseman Luke Richardson’s stick and survived the Ducks’ final, futile efforts and got his first NHL victory.

The Ducks never tested Gage too severely except for Todd Krygier’s goal with a two-man advantage. Their penalty-killing faltered after killing off a five-minute major in the first, as they gave up all three Edmonton goals on power plays. Jason Arnott scored when defenseman Dave Karpa “went to sleep” in front of the net, Wilson said, and Karpa called the goal “my fault.” Miroslav Satan put one in off the post and goalie Guy Hebert’s backside, and Brett Hauer scored the other.

The stick challenge at the end only put life into an otherwise dull game in front of an announced 9,456 at Edmonton Coliseum.

“Just about every goalie in the league has an illegal stick; it’s almost a guaranteed call,” Wilson said. “I don’t like to make that call, but we were going on a power play and the goalie was already out. I wouldn’t risk it if the score was 2-1. But with a minute left, if it’s a bad call, it’s still five on four.”

Wilson would have garnered a penalty if the challenge had proved unjustified but said he has never seen the gambit fail. Hebert agreed it’s a safe bet.

“Oh yeah,” Hebert said, saying most goalie sticks come from the manufacturer about a quarter-inch too wide and that his own is a shade too wide. “I’ve never been that big a fan of that call . . . but we needed a win.”

It was a game that shouldn’t have come to what Wilson called a “desperate” measure. Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford, who was so good in shutting them out the last time the Ducks played in Edmonton that Wilson shook his hand as he left the ice, went on injured reserve because of a sprained ankle Saturday, and it seemed like an opportunity for the Ducks.

Instead, they forced Gage--a backup’s backup--to make only seven saves in the first. Though he finished with 33, he wasn’t challenged much.

Paul Kariya had a club-record 10 shots, but didn’t score for the fifth consecutive game, matching his longest stretch without a goal this season. He said he needs to quicken his release.

Kariya was familiar with Gage because they’re both from the Vancouver area, and Hebert saw him play in a minor league game in Albany, N.Y., during last season’s lockout. But Garry Valk admitted that Gage--fresh from minor league Cape Breton--wasn’t anyone he’d heard of.

“No, I haven’t,” Valk said with a weak smile. “But he played well. Hats off to him.”

Wilson said he’d “hate to think” the Ducks’ lackluster attack had anything to do with a lack of respect for Gage.

“We have to work hard to score against anybody,” he said. “There’s not a guy here outside of Paul who’s going to score 20 goals.

“I didn’t think we competed hard enough to score. We didn’t deserve to score.”

Duck Notes

The East Coast blizzard and closure of the Philadelphia airport postponed the team’s charter flight until this afternoon. The team was scheduled to leave immediately after the game to play the Flyers on Tuesday. . . . The Ducks lost defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky in the first period after he was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for cutting Dean McAmmond with a high stick. . . . Linesman Baron Parker left the game late in the third after a Bryan Marchment shot hit him, apparently in the left elbow.