Ducks' loss provides plenty of cause for concern

Wait 'til last year.

In their first playoff game as the defending Stanley Cup champions, facing a team that was imploding during the final month of the season, the Ducks tripped over their own lofty expectations and dissolved into an ugly pile of mush before a stunned crowd that didn't fill the Honda Center in body or spirit.

All the mistakes the Ducks overcame last spring because their character and scoring power ran so deep were insurmountable for them Thursday night.

All the missteps they made during their Cup run but so often reversed on the strength of their resilience and sheer grit cost them at every turn in a series-opening 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars.

They knew they are a different team than they were a year ago, that they'd have to rely even more heavily on their defense following the departure of high-scoring winger Dustin Penner via free agency and the salary cap-related trade of valued second-line center Andy McDonald.

Different didn't mean better.

It didn't mean even remotely competitive after the first few minutes.

"We were executing and moving the puck well," defenseman Chris Pronger said, "and then we just stopped."

They stopped because they started taking dumb penalties, the kind that make coaches pull out their remaining hair and turn game films into horror shows.

The kind that can sabotage the chances of even the most resolute team.

Not that the Ducks looked resolute.

After struggling for scoring consistency most of the season, the fourth-seeded Ducks knew they'd have to scratch and claw for every goal against the rugged Stars.

They didn't know they'd also have to scramble to find poise and intelligence.

Two needless penalties the Ducks took in the offensive zone turned into Dallas' first two goals, a lead that proved more than enough for the fifth-seeded Stars -- especially after the Ducks managed to avoid taking a shot for a span of 19 minutes and 30 seconds in the first and second periods.

The Stars scored twice more with the man advantage, toying with a helpless Jean-Sebastien Giguere and leaving the Ducks sorting through a mix of disappointment, frustration and regret.

In the grim quiet of the Ducks' locker room, Pronger forced something resembling a smile when he was asked what had happened.

"Good question," he said.

"The first 10 minutes we got off the way we wanted to, and then we started taking penalties and the penalty killing obvious didn't do the job."

Their skid began when Travis Moen elbowed Matt Niskanen in the offensive zone at 10:22 of the first period.

Steve Ott deflected a shot by Stephane Robidas past a surprised Giguere for Dallas' first goal 63 seconds later.