Ducks Get Ruffled by Sharks : Hockey: Wilson blames mistakes by defensemen for 2-1 loss in overtime.

The end of the Mighty Ducks’ losing streak was so close they could smell it. Instead, defensive mistakes left them to chew on a 2-1 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks before 16,014 at Anaheim Arena on Sunday night.

It was their sixth loss in a row. The Ducks led, 1-0, midway through the third period, but the Sharks tied the score at 7:34 after what Coach Ron Wilson called “inexcusable” and “selfish” mistakes by defensemen Sean Hill and Bill Houlder.

“The difference for us was we made a very selfish mistake to turn it from 1-0 to 1-1,” Wilson said. “We’ve got two defensemen leading the charge up ice. We don’t need goals at that point . . . we (simply) can’t be scored against. It’s just a selfish mistake.

“I can’t stress that enough. Otherwise we play a darn near perfect game.”

After Jeff McLean’s goal forced overtime, Tom Pederson scored the winner when his shot from a difficult angle at the bottom of the right circle found its way between goaltender Guy Hebert’s pads at 1:47 of the five-minute extra period.

“I still can’t believe I’m sitting here talking about a loss,” said Hebert, who thought he had the angle covered and his pads tightly together. “I think we dominated the game. I thought at the worst we’d get a tie.”

Hebert was making a strong bid to become the first Mighty Duck goaltender to record a shutout, but his luck ran out in the third period.

Hill and Houlder got caught up ice, leaving a 4-on-2 coming the other way with a couple of forwards near helpless to defend.

Sergei Makarov, the former Calgary Flame and Soviet national team star, set up McLean for his first NHL goal by cutting around the Ducks’ Joe Sacco, then passing to McLean once Hebert was forced to commit.

“It was a bad decision, and it cost us the game,” Houlder said. “It was just a stupid thing to do. It’s just basic hockey, if you have a one-goal lead with 10 minutes left. There’s no sense in it. Maybe one defenseman would not bother you, but when two get caught up ice on the play . . .”

Said Wilson: “They cashed in on the mistakes. It shouldn’t have been in overtime. We should have won the game 1-0, there’s not a doubt in my mind. If we’re not going to score, then we’ve got to prevent the other team from scoring and we were doing a good job. But we got carried away trying to make it 2-0 instead of defending the 1-0 lead.”

The teams played more than 36 minutes before either side scored. The Ducks had more and better chances, but Jimmy Waite was able to turn them away until late in the second period, when Garry Valk scored on the Ducks’ fourth power play of the game.

The Ducks had a man advantage after Sandis Ozolinsh was sent off for hooking, and Terry Yake’s pass from the left circle found Valk open high in the slot. Valk slapped it home for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. Anatoli Semenov had the second assist.

The Ducks had a flurry of chances in the final minutes of the third, but Waite held them off, making particularly good stops on Patrik Carnback’s attempt from in front of the net and then sprawling to stop Valk’s shot from short range.

Duck Notes

Defenseman Anatoli Fedotov was recalled from minor league affiliate San Diego to make an emergency appearance. With defenseman Alexei Kasatonov ill and extra defenseman Myles O’Connor sidelined because of a groin injury, the Ducks had only five available defensemen before summoning Fedotov. . . . The home stand will continue Wednesday against Dallas.