Panthers Pounce on Ducks

The Mighty Ducks would still like to think they are the better of the NHL’s two newest teams, but right now that title belongs to the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers swept the two-game season series by beating the Ducks, 4-2, before 14,669 at Miami Arena on Saturday.

The Panthers (16-15-6) lead the Ducks (14-24-2) by eight points.

“I’m not accepting that they’re better than us, but I can’t tell you we’re better than them, because they beat us twice,” said the Ducks’ Terry Yake, who scored his team-leading 14th goal at 3:39 of the third period. “Come the end of the year, we’ll see. . . . There’s no doubt they’ve got a pretty good hockey club, because they’ve beat a lot of other clubs, too. But I’m not going to take a back seat to them.”

The Ducks’ record against the other four recent expansion teams dropped to 0-8--a mark that Coach Ron Wilson declines to dwell on.

“I don’t know why we would try harder in a game like this. I mean, we try hard every night,” Wilson said. “It’s not like you try hard and then you try harder.”

Goaltender Guy Hebert said it is a topic the players don’t discuss much.

“I think that’s probably something the organization itself is not very happy about,” Hebert said. “But we want to play every game like it’s a big game whether it’s Montreal or Pittsburgh or whoever, Florida or Tampa Bay. But I’m sure maybe in the back of our minds, maybe it’s a little frustrating.”

The Panthers took a 3-0 lead, scoring first at 3:41 of the first period when the Ducks’ Jarrod Skalde knocked the puck into Anaheim’s net as he tried to clear it while Hebert tried to cover it. Stu Barnes, the nearest Panther, was credited with the goal.

“It was a fluke, is what it was,” Wilson said. “In the end that’s what beat us. That’s one of the few times you’ll see a team score a goal where the other team never touched the puck.”

That one wasn’t Hebert’s fault, but he had one of his shakiest games of the season, later giving up the Panthers’ third goal when the puck rolled in slowly behind him after he made the initial stop on Paul Laus.

“It’s tough because we didn’t want to give up a quick goal against this team; that’s what they want,” Hebert said. “They try to get a one-goal lead and sit on it.”

The Ducks did their share of sitting in the first two periods, but came alive in the third with 26 shots--doubling their total.

Yake’s goal ended a scoreless stretch of 118 minutes that started in the third period of the Ducks’ victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday. They were shut out by Washington on Thursday, as the absence of former leading scorer Anatoli Semenov continues to show.

Still, Bob Corkum scored at 17:27 of the third, making the score 3-2.

Wilson pulled Hebert for an extra attacker with 1:19 to play, but Tim Sweeney lost a chance at close range when a Florida player lifted his stick from behind and he fanned.

“It was a nice play,” Sweeney said. “I never saw him.”

Florida’s Jody Hull scored into an empty net with 12 seconds left.

“I guess we can’t make that claim (to be better) if we don’t win the games,” Sweeney said. “We’ve been in both games and had a chance to win. I think it comes down to us not burying our chances. We’ll see who’s better at the end of the year. I think it’s a little too early to tell.”

Hebert agreed.

“The way I look at it, the way the better team is determined is who reaches the playoffs,” he said. “One on one, they’re 2-0 against us. They have that feather in their cap.”

Duck Notes

Duck Coach Ron Wilson accused Florida goalie John Vanbiesbrouck of playing with pads wider than the regulation 12 inches. “I’d be willing to bet John Vanbiesbrouck’s pads are 14 inches wide,” Wilson said. Rules don’t provide for questioning pads during a game, as they do with sticks. “I think a lot of goalies are cheating, and no one’s really investigated into why all these goalies in the league have goals-against averages under 3.00 and save percentages over .900,” said Wilson, also accusing San Jose’s Arturs Irbe. “You go from four guys with those types of numbers last year to over 20 this year. I guess it’s like baseball, the home runs go up one year, you should start checking bats.”

Bob Clarke, Florida general manager, responded by telling the Palm Beach Post: “I think Ron Wilson should just coach his hockey team and not worry about us. He’s not exactly Al Arbour. He’s only been in this league (this season). For him to become an expert so quickly is remarkable. For him to talk about our players like that is very unprofessional. He’s open to criticism himself.” Vanbiesbrouck simply laughed, saying Wilson could come to practice and check his pads, which the Florida goalie said were legal.