Some things don’t change

The Ducks’ first game under their new general manager, Bob Murray, went much the same way as the last few they played before Brian Burke stepped aside.

He’s setting his sights eastward. They appear to be heading south.

Despite having four days off and using the last half of that break to concentrate on improving their defensive zone coverage, the Ducks seemed to have gained little from that refresher course.

They took too many needless penalties Friday against the speedy Nashville Predators and got nothing out of the once-dominant line of Travis Moen, Sammy Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer except for a couple of minor penalties.

Brendan Morrison did contribute a goal from a second line that has notably underachieved five-on-five, but that was minimized by the sobering reality of a 4-3 overtime loss Friday before a Honda Center crowd that looked far smaller than the announced 16,485.

After assembling an 8-0-1 streak, the Ducks (9-7-2) have now lost three straight games. They’ve given up at least one power-play goal in each of those losses and yielded two Friday, the Predators’ first and third goals.

“I think it was a bit better effort than the last two games but still not good enough to get two points, which was what we set out to do tonight,” defenseman Scott Niedermayer said. “So that’s disappointing.”

Niedermayer unwittingly played a part in the decisive goal. He was on the left-wing boards in the Ducks’ zone and tried to slip the puck back, to Kent Huskins. But veteran center Jason Arnott intercepted the pass and fed defenseman Dan Hamhuis in the high slot for a 40-foot slap shot that ended the game 2:17 into overtime.

“I went in behind Kent and got the puck and probably should have kept it going as opposed to putting it back where everybody was,” Niedermayer said.

In no way should this defeat be pinned on him. The Ducks’ defense is slow and soft after the top three of Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin, and the forwards haven’t been doing their part to help.

“We were a little bit loose in our own zone,” Morrison said. “We’re scoring enough goals but we’re not as assertive as we have to be in our own zone.”

The Predators have an exceptionally mobile defense that had a big hand in each of their four goals. They didn’t need any help from the Ducks, though the hosts were only too willing to serve up the puck in every zone.

“Those guys can skate and move the puck well,” Scott Niedermayer said. “We had a few little breakdowns in our end that led to some of their chances, some giveaways, things like that. When you’re playing a team that played well like they did tonight you can’t do that.”

One breakdown is not a big deal. There are ways to compensate. The problem is that the Ducks are prone to making a succession of mistakes and can’t break the pattern.

“Some shifts are good and it seems some shifts one mistake leads to another, leads to another,” Niedermayer said. “That’s not good.”

Neither were the Ducks, though they scored early and late in the first period.

Morrison, still trying to regain strength and zip in his surgically repaired right knee, produced a rare even-strength goal for the Ducks’ second line at 1:59. Teemu Selanne did a lot of the work, twisting away from Ville Koistinen along the boards, moving out toward the blue line and finding Morrison deep on the right side. Morrison one-timed it over goalie Dan Ellis’ right arm.

Pahlsson was serving a hooking penalty when Nashville pulled even, at 5:54. Hamhuis took a shot that was stopped, but the rebound was swooped on by Ryan Jones as he stood by the left post.

The Predators capitalized on a lucky break for their second goal, at 11:26. Shea Weber, who was the league’s highest-scoring defenseman before Friday’s games, took a shot that thudded off the boards behind the net. The puck caromed in front and toward the left post, where J.P. Dumont beat Ducks winger Chris Kunitz to it and backhanded it past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Kunitz scored from close range during a five-on-three at 15:05 to leave it at 2-2 after one period. The Predators took the lead in the third on a power-play deflection by Joel Ward while Bret Hedican served a holding penalty.

The Ducks managed to tie the score at 9:33, also during a power play, when Ryan Getzlaf chipped in a shot in the midst of a crowd, but they couldn’t score again.

Coach Randy Carlyle said he liked the pace, effort and competitiveness. “We’re not going to get down,” he said.

They can’t afford to have their spirits sink along with their defensive play.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com