Ducks’ Lilley Hopes He’s Back for Good : Hockey: Rookie, who broke his jaw after being sent to minors, is recalled and immediately put into lineup.

First came the lockout and then the Mighty Ducks’ decision that their promising young rookie would be best served by playing in the minors for the time being.

Next thing John Lilley knew, he had broken his jaw and couldn’t play at all. Heck, he couldn’t even eat.

Talk about feeling doubly cursed.

A month spent with his jaw wired shut, drinking only milkshakes and other fluids to keep him going. A month without skating. It was tough to know which was worse.

When his jaw finally healed and the NHL labor dispute was at last put to rest, Lilley still had to wait to play his first game for the Ducks in 1995. The team recalled Lilley from San Diego of the International Hockey League on Tuesday and promptly stuck him into the lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars.

They needed his feisty, forechecking style of play--desperately as it turned out. In the end, even Lilley couldn’t lift the Ducks from a 60-minute sleep skate and a 4-1 loss.

Lilley had to be content to be back in the NHL. He was disappointed enough to have been sent to San Diego in the first place. He hopes he has returned for good. In order to make room for him in Wednesday’s lineup, the Ducks scratched Tim Sweeney for the second time in four games.

His injury troubled him, however.

“It had been said (that he would return as soon as the lockout was over),” said Lilley, who had 12 points in 23 games for San Diego before breaking his jaw Dec. 14. “I was injured, though, so who knows? I was more worried about getting healthy again.”

He lost 10 pounds off his 5-foot-9, 170-pound frame and felt fortunate it wasn’t more.

“I hear a lot of people lose more than that,” he said.

If he’s lost a step or two from his layoff, it didn’t show Wednesday. Then again, most everyone in the NHL looks a bit slow coming off the 103-day lockout. At least Lilley had a chance to play some between Oct. 1, when the lockout began, and last Friday, when the season started.

One month off doesn’t seem to have fazed him, or his relentless style.

Trying to inject a little life in the dead Ducks to start the third period, Coach Ron Wilson teamed Lilley with Bob Corkum and Patrik Carnback.

“I didn’t skate for that whole month,” Lilley said. “I couldn’t breathe because I couldn’t open my mouth. I’ve only been skating a week or so. I’m feeling good, ready to get going, ready to get into the flow.”

He had his chances, but came up empty Wednesday.

“Things weren’t going well, so (Wilson) shuffled the lines up,” Lilley said. “He was moving lines around trying to get a different combination out there.”

The Ducks were outshot, 13-5, by the end of the first period. By game’s end, Dallas held a 34-23 advantage.

The man Lilley replaced on the Corkum-Carnback line, Peter Douris, had the Ducks’ only goal.

“We’ve got to learn a lesson from tonight,” Lilley said. “We’ve got to be more tenacious in order to be victorious. We’re not going to beat teams on talent alone.”