Ric Jackman becomes the latest unlikely playoff hero

	After an inauspicious start to his stint with the Ducks, Ric Jackman redeemed himself with a big moment. Jeff Gross/Getty Images
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Welcome to the Stanley Cup playoffs, Ric Jackman. We don't expect to be needing your services for very long, but as long as you're here, why not stay awhile and make yourself feel at home? Have a seat, read a magazine, score a goal if you feel like it. The world is at your skates and, I mean, as long as you're here ...

With opportunity knocking, Jackman replaced suspended Anaheim defenseman Chris Pronger on Thursday night and scored a key goal in the first period of the first Stanley Cup playoff game of his career, which turned out to be a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Ducks' coach Randy Carlyle inserted Jackman into the lineup after the NHL suspended Pronger for his high hit on Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3.

Carlyle could have chosen Aaron Rome to fill Pronger's spot, but opted for Jackman because the former first-round pick was capable of generating more offense. The move paid off handsomely with the score tied 1-1 and Detroit a man short because of a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Jackman jumped on a loose puck just inside the Wings' blueline and sent a low, harmless-looking shot on goalie Dominik Hasek. Anaheim's Dustin Penner did a great job of obscuring Hasek's vision and the puck wiggled through the goaltender's pads to put the Ducks in front at 11:46 of the period. It was their first power-play goal in 32 chances. "The puck was just sort of laying there," Jackman said later. "I got lucky on the shot. I'll take it."

The 28-year-old defenseman had scored 19 regular-season goals in seven years. In previous stints with Dallas, Boston, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Florida, he had never suited up in the postseason and had sometimes fallen out of favor with his coaches. When Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk told him that he needed to work on his defensive contributions, Jackman famously replied: "That's hard to do when you don't play."

That was back in 2004, just before the lockout, during which Jackman took his skills overseas and led the Swedish Elite League with 209 penalty minutes in just 46 games while playing for Bjorkloven, a second-division club based in a town where the sun went down shortly after lunch and did not return until breakfast time the next day.

Still, Jackman has set a great example of perseverance. The Ducks acquired him from the Panthers in a January trade, and after playing in just seven of the Panthers' 42 games, he made a horrendous first impression in his Ducks' debut, recording a minus-4 in a 4-3 loss to Columbus. Jackman suffered from severe back spasms for much of the season, registering 10 points in 24 games for Anaheim. He then sat out the playoffs until he got the call on Thursday. Skating just six minutes, 37 seconds on 10 shifts, he was hardly the only Ducks defenseman to see limited minutes. Joe DiPenta played only 8:47 while Kent Huskins played just 12:38.

That left a heavy workload to Francois Beauchemin and Scott Niedermayer, each of whom played 34 minutes, two more even than Detroit stalwart Nick Lidstrom. The Ducks needed every one of those minutes. For the second straight game they took unnecessary penalties and found themselves on the short end of two separate five-on-three disadvantages during the second and third periods. The Wings outshot them, 39-23, including a 31-14 edge over the first two periods, and left them scrambling all night. Jackman's goal was just the kind of unlikely gift they needed.

With the series tied 2-2 and Pronger coming back for Game 5 on Sunday afternoon, Jackman may well return to the taxi squad. His appearance on Thursday, though, was surely a joyride.