Toronto Takes the Initiative

ANAHEIM — The magic ended in the first period of the Mighty Ducks’ 6-2 loss to the heretofore punchless Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at the Pond.

The lightning bolt Paul Kariya provided in his return in Friday’s comeback victory over Washington fizzled in a lackluster third period that sent many of the 16,807 fans to the exits with more than 10 minutes to play.

Kariya made good on his task to jump-start the Duck offensive by scoring his third goal in two games since signing a two-year, $14-million contract last week.

Teemu Selanne assisted on the goal, which enabled the Ducks to briefly tie Toronto, 2-2, in the second period. But the Maple Leafs scored three goals in a span of 1:26 in the third period to turn a close game into a runaway.

It also raised a question:

Now that General Manager Jack Ferreira has Kariya in the fold for the rest of this season and the next, will he turn his attention to getting the Ducks some defensive help?

Ferreira brushed off a reporter who wondered about that by sarcastically suggesting the reporter make up a rumor of a trade because “that’s what you guys all do anyway.”

In other words, no deal appears at hand.

“Every year with every team I’ve coached, we’ve talked about getting a big, physical defenseman,” Coach Pierre Page said. “But make a list. There are maybe 14 to 16 of them in the NHL, so not every team has one. It’s a cop-out for a coach to talk about it. You have to develop them.”

The Ducks hardly resembled a playoff contender against the Maple Leafs, particularly on defense.

“We looked rusty [on defense] tonight,” Page said. “We had a lot of guys coming back from injury in this game.”

David Karpa returned to the lineup after missing two games because of a hamstring strain.

Ruslan Salei returned after missing one game because of a broken bone in his foot.

Jason Marshall missed several days of practice to be with his family in Canada after the death of his grandfather.

“We looked like a part-time team tonight,” Page said. “But I don’t think we should take anything away from Toronto.”

No, the Ducks seemed bent on giving the Maple Leafs all they could.

Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin stole a puck and swept in alone on Duck goaltender Guy Hebert to give Toronto a 4-2 lead at 8:23 of the third period. He scored again at 8:43 after another Duck turnover.

Darby Hendrickson then scored his second goal of the game, beating Hebert with a point-blank shot after winning a faceoff at 9:49.

And to think the Maple Leafs entered the game with only 67 goals this season, second-fewest in the NHL.

“We wanted to be intense tonight, but Toronto was intense,” Page said. “I think this is a hell of a wake up call. I though the first period was enough of a wake up call, but we had to go through the second and third periods.”

Almost right from the start Wednesday’s game had the look and feel of many of the Ducks’ games before Kariya’s return.

Rookie winger Jeremy Stevenson scored 4:17 into the game to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.

Mathieu Schneider scored only 1:17 later on a shot from the left point that appeared to be deflected twice before nestling in the net behind Hebert. A hustling play by Toronto’s Mike Johnson then set up Hendrickson’s first goal at 16:31, giving the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead.

Kariya tied it with a quick wrist shot from the right faceoff circle over Toronto goalie Felix Potvin’s left shoulder at 10:53 of the second period.

But Igor Korolev knocked in a rebound at 13:22 for a 3-2 Toronto lead.