Detroit Adds to Ducks’ Losing Streak : Hockey: But Mighty Ducks believe they see signs of improvement despite falling, 5-2.

There are not too many things worse for a hockey team in the middle of a defensive collapse then seeing the Detroit Red Wings bearing down on them with their array of speed, skill and size.

That was what the Mighty Ducks faced Friday night, and the result was too easy to predict, a 5-2 loss in front of 17,174 at The Pond.

The Ducks could lose to the Red Wings by that score if they were playing well defensively, and the best thing you could say about Friday’s game was that it could have been much worse.

The score might easily have been 3-0 in the first two minutes. Mike Sillinger swooped in alone on goalie Guy Hebert in the first 30 seconds, but his shot went wide. Moments later, a shot by defenseman Paul Coffey glanced off the right post, and then Hebert stopped Keith Primeau.

They managed to withstand that first onslaught to trail 2-1 at the end of the first period. They were only being outshot, 8-7--quite a respite after facing 98 shots the previous two games.

Things fell apart in the second period as Detroit went up, 4-1, while unleashing 24 shots and outshooting the Ducks, 18-1, in the final nine minutes of the period. Still, the Ducks saw it as progress.

“We certainly didn’t play the way we did in St. Louis or Dallas,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “I’m glad we played Detroit. We had to be focused and we had to fear another spanking.

“For the first 33 minutes, we played really well. Then we had a couple of giveaways in the neutral zone and we collapsed. We’re a very fragile team right now. All in all I was happy for the first 33 minutes.”

The Ducks had their moments, but the result was another heap of ugly numbers. Detroit’s Ray Sheppard scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season, tying Chicago’s Joe Murphy for the league lead.

More pertinent to the Ducks, they have been outscored, 21-6, and allowed 142 shots in the last three games, including 44 by the Red Wings. They have given up seven, nine and five goals in the last four nights.

The second-year team is in the midst of what Wilson calls “an identity crisis” as it tries to adjust to having offensive talent to go with the muckers and grinders who won last season with defense. Now they try to win with the offensive wizardry of rookie Paul Kariya without losing poise on defense. They’re not succeeding.

“They’re trying to do what he does and they’re not capable of doing it,” Wilson said.

Team captain Randy Ladouceur has talked to the players about remembering how they won 33 games last season.

“The foundation of our success last year was playing solid defense and waiting for a break and capitalizing on our opportunities,” he said. “Certainly defense was first in our minds, and we’ve got to fall back on that and take care of our own end. . . . We’ve got to be more tenacious on defense and let the offense come.”

Some of the veterans have been shaky and new players such as Kariya and Valeri Karpov aren’t exactly known for defense.

“It’s just a combination of a lot of things; you can’t say it’s the rookies over the veterans,” said center Bob Corkum. “We’ve got more talent but not as much grit. Guys last year came from other teams where they were third and fourth liners and if they wanted to play they had to get in there and work hard, bang and scratch and claw.”

One of the team’s early frustrations has been the play of defenseman Tom Kurvers, who is known as a power play specialist and a defensive liability, which is one reason he has played for seven teams.

On the disastrous two-game trip, Kurvers had a plus-minus rating of minus-8. Though he received an assist on Patrik Carnback’s first-period goal Friday, he was also on the ice for two Red Wing goals. When Detroit made it 3-1 at 14:44 of the second, it was partly because Primeau went around him to close in on Hebert, who made the first save but couldn’t stop Darren McCarty on the rebound.

“We aren’t that far along that we can have someone who’s a specialist, and he has to realize that,” Wilson said. “He can’t get by on what he does on the power play, and even there, we’ve given up four shorthanded goals and he’s been on the ice for them all.”

The Ducks have been playing as many as seven rookies, but Wilson went with a more veteran lineup, playing only three: first-line wingers Kariya and Karpov and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.

He also threw newly acquired winger Todd Krygier straight into the fray without so much as a practice with the team. Krygier, a gritty veteran forward acquired from Washington on Thursday for 1996 fourth-round draft pick, arrived Friday afternoon and was in the lineup Friday night. He was playing his first game since last season--the Capitals routinely scratched him from the lineup this season because he had fallen out of their plans. He notched his first point as a Duck, assisting on Peter Douris’ third-period goal that made it 5-2.

It was also the first game of the season for center Stephan Lebeau, who had been out with a sprained left ankle.

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Duck Notes

Brian Burke, NHL senior vice president in charge of discipline, has reviewed the Ducks-Dallas game does not plan to take any action, league spokesman Arthur Pincus said. Dallas Coach Bob Gainey complained after the Stars’ 9-2 victory Wednesday that the Ducks intentionally tried to injure his players. Duck winger Stu Grimson was called for three major penalties and a game misconduct and three other Ducks and five Stars received major penalties. Gainey also complained about referee Mark Faucette’s work. . . . Center Patrik Carnback signed a two-year contract that will pay him about $300,000 a year.