Ducks Break the Ice, but Lose Again : Hockey: Blackhawks get a 3-2 victory as Anaheim’s playoff dreams slip away.

The goal of the game, after all, is to score goals.

The Mighty Ducks finally managed to put a puck in the net Friday night--ending a scoreless streak of 200 minutes 26 seconds over five games, three of them shutout losses.

But the other goal of the game--scoring more goals than the other team--continued to elude them in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in front of 17,174 Friday at Anaheim Arena.

‘If we get shut out, 3-0, or lose, 3-2, we still lost the game,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “But the bottom line is we took a step this time by scoring a couple of goals.”

The Ducks remain eight points behind San Jose for the final Western Conference playoff spot with 14 games left.

“Statistically, it probably is slipping away, but we haven’t been thinking about it too much,” Bob Corkum said.

The Ducks were the first team to be shut out three games in a row since the 1988 Minnesota North Stars. And though the NHL record is eight, league statisticians were having a difficult time determining exactly when a team was last shut out four games in a row. The Ducks managed to avoid making it obvious.

The Ducks were already behind, 1-0, with Chicago on a power play when Corkum stepped in and picked off Jeremy Roenick’s weak cross-ice pass from near the left point. Corkum was off on a breakaway--and to end up without a goal again would have been devastating.

But Corkum faked Chicago goaltender Ed Belfour with his head and shoulders, stick-handled, pulled up and tucked the puck inside the right post at 12:03 of the first period.

“It was kind of a sigh of relief,” said Corkum, who scored both Duck goals.

The goal ended Belfour’s streak without giving up a goal at 143:25. He shut out the Ducks in a neutral-site game at Phoenix on Tuesday and did the same to the Kings at the Forum on Wednesday.

“With his (hard) shot, Ed Belfour probably didn’t expect that,” Wilson said. “The move he made, I’ve only seen a couple of guys do. He stopped, faked and went to his forehand. That requires a lot of skill.”

From the crowd’s reaction, it seemed as if the Ducks had never scored before. The celebration went on for minutes, and wasn’t that different from the one back on opening night when Sean Hill scored the first goal in franchise history.

Before the Chicago power play had ended, the Ducks got another golden opportunity, with Joe Sacco out on another breakaway, but his shot went wide.

“Joe Sacco may have missed on what would have been the turning point,” Wilson said. “Joe made a great move and the puck bounced over his stick. He had Ed Belfour dead.”

Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick broke a 2-2 tie at 16:43 of the second when he was found room to wind up from the top of the right circle, beating Guy Hebert for his 36th goal of the season.

“Jeremy Roenick rose above everybody else with some big hits and a beautiful goal,” Wilson said.

Michel Goulet had given the Blackhawks the early lead at 5:28 of the first, and Patrick Poulin made it 2-1 when he deflected Chris Chelios’ slap shot at 17:16 of the second.

But Corkum, having broken the ice, scored again from low in the right circle off a pass from Peter Douris, tying the score at 7:55 with his team-leading 22nd goal.