Panthers Win Battle of Newest : Hockey: Mighty Ducks play sluggishly in 3-2 loss to Florida and are are 0-7 against recent expansion teams.

The only team the Mighty Ducks can really compare themselves to visited Anaheim Arena on Tuesday.

And for the first two periods, there wasn’t much comparison.

The Ducks played sluggish hockey during most of their 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers in front of 16,474. It was the first meeting of the NHL’s two newest teams.

“I don’t know what happened in the first period,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “I never felt we were in the game until the third.”

Florida took a 3-0 lead and threatened to shut out the Ducks until Tim Sweeney broke through for a goal at 2:23 of the third. The final margin was cut to one only after Steven King scored with 67 seconds remaining. The Ducks had a two-man advantage after pulling goalie Guy Hebert while already on a power play.

The Ducks and Panthers were born together when the franchises were given tentative approval a year ago Thursday. When management picked their teams in June, they picked from the same players.

So the Ducks--9-18-2 overall but 0-7 against the other recent expansion teams--lost a little pride. But they suffered a loss that could prove more critical when leading scorer Anatoli Semenov left the game late in the second period with a dislocated left elbow after he was caught in teammate Stu Grimson’s check on Dave Lowry.

Grimson is 6 feet 5 and 227 pounds, and the reed-like Semenov, caught on the edge of the collision, buckled. Semenov was taken to Anaheim Memorial Hospital for precautionary X-rays, and there was no immediate prognosis.

“He’s our best player, clearly,” Wilson said. “But it also means someone else is going to have to step up to the plate and look for the hit sign instead of the bunt.”

From the start, Florida seemed to place more importance on the game. The victory was the Panthers’ 10th overall--one more than the Ducks--and their fifth against recent expansion teams.

At least it means the Panthers don’t have to look for another home: Owner H. Wayne Huizenga had told them not to come back if they didn’t beat the Ducks.

“(Coach Roger Neilson) came in and hit the nail on the head when he told us about how much this means to our organization and to the people who put this team together,” Florida goalie John Vanbiesbrouck said. “Even though it’s only the 20-something game of the season, there was extra incentive. We came out and showed it.”

Once Semenov was gone, the Ducks were missing two-thirds of their top line. Mighty Duck left wing Garry Valk suffered a concussion Sunday when he was cross-checked into the boards from behind by Tampa Bay’s Joe Reekie.

“Losing (Semenov) halfway through kills us,” said right wing Terry Yake, who assisted on both Duck goals. “It definitely is going to be tough without Anatoli for however long he’s going to be out. Skill guys like Valk and Semenov work hard night in and night out and they can come up with a few nice plays when you need them. But I think we showed late in the game that we have plenty of guys who can do the job.”

Until the third, the Panthers were faster and more aggressive, blocking numerous shots out front with their sticks.

By the end of the second period, a few Duck fans had taken off the usual kid gloves and treated them like a real team--they booed them.

The shot clock didn’t get much of a workout, but Florida scored on two of its six first-period shots, with goals from Scott Mellanby and Jesse Belanger.

By the time Greg Hawgood scored from close range off Mellanby’s drop pass at 3:31 of the second period to give Florida a 3-0 lead, a Duck comeback looked unlikely.

Notes

Steven King’s goal was his fourth in six games after scoring just one in the first 23 of the season. . . . Tim Sweeney returned after missing four games because of illness.

* OH FOR EXPANSION: Mighty Ducks have yet to beat a recent expansion team and the players have several theories on the problem. C4