Ducks Suffer a Power Outage as Quebec Has Enough to Win : Hockey: Unable to take advantage of power plays, Anaheim is put on the defensive and loses, 1-0.

It was a game of two pitiful performances by teams that can’t afford to play poorly. But somebody was bound to win it, and the Quebec Nordiques did Friday, defeating the Mighty Ducks 1-0, before 17,174 at Anaheim Arena.

There were no screams for refunds, but maybe there should have been.

“Every game is important, every point is important, especially with L.A. losing,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “It’s inexcusable not to be ready to play.

“We had three or four defensemen who were awful. We had a number of forwards who didn’t play. We had guys in neutral.”

The game was scoreless for 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 enjoying a two-man advantage.

Stephane Fiset made 28 saves for his second career shutout and Quebec’s first of the season.

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

The Ducks entered the game ranked 23rd in the NHL, 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 seven against Quebec.

Incredibly, the Nordique power play is even worse, entering the game ranked 25th at 14.8%, only marginally better than Tampa Bay.

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 high-sticking. And they effectively had a 5-on-2 advantage for a few seconds when Bob Corkum chased a puck and got caught behind the play. But Quebec still couldn’t score, missing high or wide or being stopped even after skating to within 10 feet.

The scoreless game finally ended when Young deflected 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 goalie Ron Tugnutt and crossed the goal line with a second left in the period.

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

Duck Notes

Before leaving for the Winter Olympics, General Manager Jack Ferreira said he was not optimistic that No. 4 overall draft pick Paul Kariya will join the Ducks this season, as had been hoped. “Right now, I think (the chances are) slim,” he said, adding he believes the sides are far apart financially. Kariya, who is playing for Canada in the Lillehammer Games, maintains he has not decided whether to return to the University of Maine for one more semester or turn professional. “I get every indication if we put the right deal on the table, he’ll be here right after the Olympics,” Ferreira said. . . . Though he is the only GM who has not made a trade since the season began, Ferreira said he is 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.” . . . Left wing Garry Valk was assessed a high-sticking major and game misconduct in the first period, and Coach Ron Wilson expected it to be rescinded after a review, though he said that couldn’t make up for losing Valk for most of the game.