DUCKS ARE SINKING; SELANNE'S TWO GOALS NOT ENOUGH VS. SHARKS : SAN JOSE 4 DUCKS 2.

Byline: Associated Press 

John MacLean's arrival in San Jose and the Sharks' seven-game unbeaten streak are more than a coincidence.

MacLean scored his first two goals for his new team on Sunday, powering a 4-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks at the Pond.

Murray Craven also scored, defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson got his first of the season on a power play and Jeff Friesen had three assists for the Sharks, 5-0-2 since their last loss on Dec. 1 at Calgary.

``I was pleasantly surprised at the talent level here and the character here,'' said MacLean, who came to the Sharks on Dec. 7 from the New Jersey Devils with Ken Sutton in exchange for Doug Bodger and Dody Wood. ``It's an unknown until you go to a team and find out.

``But there are a lot of quality veterans here, guys who have been on winning teams before and good young talent. Everybody seems to be pulling for one another and doing the little things properly. And that's all it comes down to.''

Teemu Selanne scored both the Ducks' goals to increase his league-leading total to 28. Paul Kariya, who has at least one point in each of his last 15 regular-season games, set up each goal less than a minute after San Jose had scored.

Kariya was serving an interference penalty when MacLean tipped in a 30-foot slap shot by Bill Houlder at 10:48 of the first period to snap a 1-1 tie and give San Jose the lead for good.

It was the first penalty in a span of 50 regular-season games for Kariya, who won the Lady Byng Trophy the past two seasons.

Just 11 seconds after MacLean's fifth goal increased the Sharks' margin to 3-1, Kariya threw a slick backhanded pass to Selanne in front of the net, and the All-Star right wing put it past Mike Vernon at 11:02 of the second period.

Ragnarsson restored San Jose's two-goal margin about three minutes after Selanne's second goal, beating Guy Hebert on a power play. It was Ragnarsson's fourth goal in 102 games over the last two seasons.

``We're getting goals from different people every night and we're not looking upon one line to do all the scoring,'' Bernie Nicholls said. ``Everybody's working hard in whatever situation they're put in. We're getting hard-working goals, and that's why we're winning.''

The Sharks, coming off their second scoreless tie of the season, took a 1-0 lead less than two minutes after the opening faceoff while killing off a hooking penalty. Craven swept a rebound of defenseman Al Iafrate's long slap shot past Hebert for his eighth goal, the same total he had in 75 games last season.

San Jose's lead lasted just 46 seconds, as Selanne one-timed a pass from Kariya and beat Vernon from 50 feet.

``Right now this team doesn't have any confidence,'' said Selanne, who promised to anyone who would listen that things would get better once Kariya returned from his 32-game holdout. ``The last four games we've given up 20 goals. Sooner or later, some guys are going to lose their jobs.''

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Photo

Photo: Ducks forward Tomas Sandstrom, rear, is shielded from the puck by Sharks' Jeff Friesen.

Associated Press