FROM SAN JOSE — From Teemu Selanne's perspective, something was very wrong in the Ducks' 3-2 victory over the Sharks, the eighth-seeded team's second straight stunner against the NHL's regular-season leader.
Not that the Ducks allowed San Jose to take 44 shots at an unflappable Jonas Hiller for a two-game total of 79.
And certainly not that the Ducks scored twice in the third period Sunday and got help from a goalpost to preserve their lead, which enabled them to take a 2-0 series edge home to the Honda Center on Tuesday.
No, the grievance in Selanne's world was that the Ducks' goals came from their youngsters -- rookies Bobby Ryan and Andrew Ebbett and third-year forward Drew Miller -- while Selanne and the team's senior members did the dirty work in setting up the last two.
Selanne won the chase for a dump-in on Ebbett's goal, and Todd Marchant won the faceoff that gave the Ducks possession on Miller's goal, which the winger scored after Scott Niedermayer's shot was deflected by his brother, Rob, onto Miller's stick for a back-to-the-net shot that eluded Evgeni Nabokov at 13:17.
"It's usually that the young guys go out there and do the work and I pick up the cherries," Selanne said, laughing.
"It was an important goal and an important win. Our penalty killing was outstanding today. We can't take those penalties. I know we have the reputation as the big, bad Ducks, but that's over."
They might prefer to be known as giant-killers, a label they're rapidly earning.
Ebbett, whose giveaway led to the Sharks' first goal -- by Ryane Clowe past a screened Hiller at 5:38 of the second period -- maintained that the Ducks, though happy to sweep both games here, aren't becoming overconfident.
"That's the best team in the league we're playing right now," he said.
That might not be true any longer, given that the Sharks have been 0 for 6 on the power play in each of the first two games and have outshot the Ducks, 79-41, but have nothing to show for it.
Ebbett wouldn't budge.
"This one's over and we're going to enjoy it for 10 minutes, like Randy said," he said, referring to Coach Randy Carlyle.
Wow, Carlyle gave them a whole 10 minutes to savor another impressive effort by Hiller, another perfect penalty-killing performance and those clutch goals?
Ebbett nodded affirmatively. "Once we hit the showers it's Tuesday night," Ebbett said.
