Ducks Are Unable to Dig Themselves Out of a Big Hole : Hockey: Devils score five goals in first 8:05 and cruise to 6-3 victory.

So, how long does it take the Mighty Ducks to dig a hole so deep that 20 men working together can’t climb out of it?

About eight minutes.

That’s how quickly the Ducks allowed the New Jersey Devils to score five goals from the opening faceoff Friday during a 6-3 loss in front of 16,666 at Anaheim Arena.

“We just jumped in the old abyss,” said goaltender Guy Hebert, who took over barely 6 1/2 minutes into the game after the Devils scored their fourth goal against starter Ron Tugnutt.

Never mind that after falling behind, 5-0, the Ducks held the Devils scoreless for more than 51 minutes before Bernie Nicholls’ empty-net goal with 34 seconds to play.

This one was over after Tugnutt was replaced at 6:32, having given up four goals, including two a mere 36 seconds apart, and three in a span of 2:24.

“You can’t dig a deeper hole than that,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “That would have been an easy time for anybody to quit, down 5-0 with nothing going your way. We stopped the bleeding and got back in it. . . . Then, in the third period, we hit the post two times. That could have been the difference, but it wasn’t. We have to live with our regrets of the first period. It was a great response by our players, but I don’t want them to be satisfied after allowing five goals in the first eight minutes. That’s nothing to be proud of.”

Tugnutt was upset about the first goal, a power-play goal scored by Valeri Zelepukin 1:55 into the game, apparently believing it was scored on a high-stick. An inconclusive review let it stand, and Tugnutt’s trouble was just beginning.

Corey Millen scored at 4:08 after picking up the puck in the neutral zone, then struggling to control it with a Duck defender on him out front.

Thirty-six seconds later, Bill Guerin scored on a deflection of Bruce Driver’s shot from the left point. Less than two minutes later, Tom Chorske cut across the slot and easily swept a pass past Tugnutt for a 4-0 lead.

It was time for another in the string of firsts for the new team: first time a goalie was yanked.

Wilson sent Hebert to replace the frustrated Tugnutt, who faced only seven shots.

“It’s not really how Ron was playing--sometime in a situation like that, it’s more for the team, for momentum,” Hebert said.

It was only about 1 1/2 minutes before Hebert gave up a goal--Guerin scored his second of the game after a teammate used his skate to direct the puck to him in the slot at 8:05.

The Ducks--who were shut out by the Devils in New Jersey last month--didn’t interrupt the New Jersey onslaught until the score was 5-0. Tim Sweeney knocked in a rebound after a couple of attempts by Terry Yake at 10:01 of the first to make it 5-1 with his second goal of the season.

The Ducks added another--a rare power-play goal--at 7:13 of the second, when Anatoli Semenov scored off Peter Douris’ perfect pass across the goal mouth. It was Semenov’s fourth goal of the season and 12th point. Since wingers Douris and Garry Valk joined him on the first line for Wednesday’s game, Semenov has three goals and five points, and has overtaken Yake as the team’s leading scorer.

When Bob Corkum added a wraparound goal--his team-leading fifth--at 10:35 of the second, the crowd began to feel the Ducks were back in it. After all, they had come from behind to beat Dallas with a three-goal third period Wednesday. A little scoreboard watching might have revealed that Ottawa was busy pulling off a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over Winnipeg Friday night after giving up five goals in the second period.

No such good fortune for the Ducks, who fought hard to score during the third period, but were unable to convert on a two-man advantage they held for 1:41 after a slashing penalty to Ben Hankinson was added to by Claude Lemieux’s ill-advised cross-check.