Ducks are taking a dive right out of contention

The Ducks played with passion and purpose in their 4-2 victory over the West-leading San Jose Sharks on Sunday, an impressive effort that was exhilarating and exasperating.

If that’s what they can do -- or could do until Teemu Selanne sprained his left shoulder and Ryan Getzlaf’s sprained left ankle became inflamed Sunday -- where was that caliber performance while they were losing their previous five games and tumbling out of playoff contention?

“You tell me,” Corey Perry said.

The Ducks are done and won’t make the playoffs this season. And for a lot of reasons.

Their defense is porous, their injury list too often led by key players like Selanne, Saku Koivu and Joffrey Lupul (out 38 games after back surgery and complications). Selanne, who has missed 26 games, and Getzlaf are day to day and questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Honda Center.

Don’t forget, too, the Ducks started the season at a disadvantage after they traded defenseman Chris Pronger, sacrificing a chance to contend for the Stanley Cup now for future chances.

Pronger, then nearly 35, was still a menacing figure. He wanted a seven-year contract extension and the Ducks refused but knew they couldn’t let him go with no return, as they had lost other players because of salary-cap restraints.

General Manager Bob Murray, who has relieved their cap squeeze, did well to get Lupul, young defenseman Luca Sbisa and two first-round draft picks. He couldn’t know that Lupul would miss most of this season. Or that Sbisa would struggle before returning to junior hockey, forcing Murray to Dumpster-dive for defensemen.

“Sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to do,” Murray said of trading Pronger. “I was not happy with myself but it’s my responsibility with the organization to move us forward.

“Obviously, it was going to be a long year and we dug a huge hole for ourselves. But we got out of the hole. We were there.”

They won six of eight before the Olympics break, closing within two points of the eighth playoff spot and making it reasonable for them to be buyers at the trade deadline. But their swoon dropped them 10 points back, a deficit they cut to eight Sunday with only 14 games left.

During Sunday’s game, Murray said he couldn’t explain what went wrong beyond a lack of hunger to win. He discounted the effect of an Olympic letdown because Scott Niedermayer, who had the most pressure at the Games as Team Canada’s captain, lifted his game since returning and the Ducks’ other Olympians have not.

“It’s all between the ears,” Murray said.

“They showed signs that when they want it bad enough they can compete. I’m not saying we’re an elite team at the moment, but when they want it they can be a damned decent hockey team and teams don’t want to play against us.”

Goaltender Jonas Hiller said beating San Jose proved the Ducks can play at a high level. “We’ve got to hope some other teams will have a little slump or something,” he said. “For us all we can do is win, and that’s what starts Wednesday.”

Too little, too late. Too bad.

NHL justice, or not

The league got it right by suspending Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin two games without pay for recklessly shoving Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell hard into the boards Sunday, leaving him with potentially season-ending injuries to his clavicle and ribs. Ovechkin acted without regard to the consequences of hitting a vulnerable player. Superstar or not, he can’t be allowed to do that.

Still, that doesn’t make up for the decision by discipline czar Colin Campbell (no relation to Brian) not to suspend Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke for the shoulder hit that gave Boston’s Marc Savard a concussion last week. Colin Campbell said he couldn’t punish Cooke because he didn’t punish Philadelphia’s Mike Richards for a similar hit on Florida’s David Booth earlier this season. That’s not following precedent. That’s compounding a mistake.

The hit on Savard led general managers to recommend penalties against blind-side hits next season, but their proposal might be diluted when it goes through the competition committee and the Board of Governors.

Pittsburgh and Boston will play again Thursday. Colin Campbell reportedly will be there to dispense justice. With some foresight, we can only hope.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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