Ducks: Nordiques score on two-man advantage, and win, 1-0. Fiset records second career shutout.

It was a battle of the dullest kind, between two faltering opponents.

It was a struggle of two pitiful power plays-- powerless power plays, really.

But though it looked for all the world as if neither team might score, the Quebec Nordiques managed to edge the Mighty Ducks by the slimmest of margins Friday, 1-0, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174 at Anaheim Arena.

The game was a 0-0 tie for half a second short of 40 minutes before Scott Young scored on a deflection of Alexei Gusarov’s point shot at 19:59 of the second period with Quebec holding a two-man advantage.

“Take .5 seconds out of the game and it’s 0-0,” goaltender Ron Tugnutt said. He made 24 saves and lost, but there wasn’t much difference between him and Quebec’s Stephane Fiset, who made 28 saves for his second career shutout and the Nordiques’ first since the 1991-92 season.

The Ducks’ lackluster performance cost them a chance to open a four-point lead on the Kings and close to one point behind San Jose for the last Western Conference playoff spot.

“We had three or four defensemen who were awful. We had a number of forwards who didn’t participate. We had guys in neutral, not contributing either way,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “Every game is important, every point is important, especially with L.A. losing. It’s inexcusable not to be ready to play.”

Nowhere was it more evident than in the ongoing string of power plays in a game that matched two of the NHL’s worst teams when they have an advantage.

The Ducks entered the game with a power play that ranked 23rd, scoring on only 16% of its opportunities. And it is a bad power play on a bad streak--the Ducks had scored in only five of their last 49 opportunities before the game, and went 0 for 7 against Quebec to make it 5-56.

Incredibly, the Nordique power play is even worse, entering the game ranked 25th at 14.8%, only marginally better than Tampa Bay, a team whose power play is so bad Lightning Coach Terry Crisp has joked he ought to decline penalties.

The Nordiques failed on their first five power plays, but finally, with a two-man advantage for 1:17 at the end on the second period, even they could fail no more.

The Nordiques, skating 5-on-3 after Sean Hill was sent off for slashing and Bobby Dollas joined him in the penalty box for roughing. And Quebec effectively had a 5-on-2 advantage for a few seconds when Bob Corkum chased a puck and got caught behind the play. But the Nordiques still couldn’t score, missing high or wide or being stopped even after skating to within 10 feet.

The deadlock was finally broken when Young deflected Alexei Gusarov’s slap shot from the left point after the Nordiques won a faceoff with just seconds left in the second period. The puck trickled in to the right of Tugnutt and crossed the goal line with less than one second left in the period.

Late in the third, in a final effort to tie, Wilson pulled Tugnutt for an extra attacker with 1:35, but the last-gasp effort was botched by a lost faceoff, meaning Tugnutt had to come back out.

“It was kind of a sloppy game,” Tugnutt said. “When one team is sloppy, then the other team gets sloppy.”

Duck Notes

Left wing Garry Valk was assessed a high-sticking major and game misconduct in the first period. “I think (referee Terry Gregson) made the wrong call because the guy was going down to block a pass, possibly the highest was waist level. We’ll have that sent in to the league and I’m sure it will be rescinded. I just wish there was a way to review these things so that you don’t lose an important player so early in the game.”

Though he is the only general manager who has not made a trade since the season began, Jack Ferreira said he is actively looking for a scorer. “I’m trying,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know who the hell our players are. I’m serious .”