It’s impossible to score a goal from the press box- and pretty difficult to put one in from the doghouse. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim right winger Roman Oksiuta is finally out of both.
Oksiuta’s goal in a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Feb. 12 was his first since Nov. 17. In that nearly three-month period, he played in just seven games.
“It has been hard for me the last couple of months sitting in the press box,” said Oksiuta, who returned to the lineup after a meeting with coach Ron Wilson and agent Rich Winter. “I want to try now to work hard and keep going and maybe the team will make the playoffs.”
Shuffled from the Edmonton Oilers to Vancouver Canucks to Anaheim the past couple of seasons, Oksiuta has a 6-foot-4, 230-pound frame and tantalizing talent, but has yet to become the 30-goal scorer people envision.
After holding out for a $600,000-a-year contract this season, Oksiuta had a disappointing start to 1996-97. He had five goals in the first half and was minus-10.
“He went a month where he didn’t want to work,” Wilson said. “He went a month where he didn’t sweat a drop.
“There’s always a point you hit-maybe not a breaking point, but a point of revelation. Sometimes it takes sitting out three or four games. Sometimes it takes two months before people realize.”
NOTEBOOK: Center Jarri Kurri started the season 17 goals from 600, but the trip to that milestone is taking longer than expected. Kurri scored his 592nd goal Feb. 12 after scoring only one goal in his previous 18 games and only eight in the first 55 games of the season…Defenseman Ruslan Salei, the Ducks’ first round entry draft pick last June, returned from a five-week stint with Baltimore of the American League. The Ducks drafted Salei hoping he could step into the NHL at 22, but demoted him after early-season struggles. “It was better for me. I got my confidence back,” Salei said. “I played a lot. and I feel much better than playing three minutes in Anaheim. It’s big pressure when you play just a few shifts.”