Chicago Shows How to Grind : Hockey: Playing the style the Ducks covet, the Blackhawks hold Anaheim to 16 shots on goal and win, 3-0.

Center Bob Corkum admitted that the Mighty Ducks’ 3-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night felt “kind of blah,” but he said it with a certain admiration.

“They played solid defense tonight, no doubt about it,” Corkum said. “I don’t feel like we played a bad game. The effort was there.”

Chicago did to the Ducks what the Ducks would like to do to others.

“That’s a good example of how we’re going to have to play,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “Chicago’s been doing that for . . . centuries. “

Chicago’s Ed Belfour recorded his 25th career shutout in front of 17,174 at The Pond, but he had to make only 16 saves to get his third shutout in six games against the Ducks.

“It’s not the goalie, it’s team defense,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “Your chances of scoring aren’t that good when you get 16 shots.

“We’re playing a great defensive team, and one of the best in the league. I think the chances were about even. They have better finishers than we do right now.”

Their finishers include Jeremy Roenick, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Wilson said Roenick is a center who might be his favorite player in the league--rugged on both ends, and a leader to boot.

One of the Ducks’ best chances to avoid being shut out came on a power play at 8:52 of the third period. Paul Kariya was picking up speed coming into the Blackhawks’ zone on the left wing when Dirk Graham hooked him, giving the Ducks a man-advantage for the next two minutes. The Ducks managed only one shot on the power play, and were unable to score on one last power play in the final three minutes, falling to four of 35 with a man advantage this season.

The Ducks and Blackhawks seemed content to engage in a defensive battle for much of the game--especially the Ducks, considering the defensive collapse they emerged from on Sunday.

Through two periods, the teams combined for a mere 20 shots. The Blackhawks scored twice on their first 11 shots. The Ducks were scoreless and Belfour had made a mere nine saves.

Even though the shot totals were low, the Blackhawks had a number of chances from close range. Mikhail Shtalenkov held them off for the first 14 minutes of the game until Greg Smyth’s shot from the right point caromed out to Patrick Poulin on the left side of the crease. Poulin roofed it for a 1-0 lead.

The Blackhawks made it 2-0 at 10:44 of the second when Poulin won a battle for the puck along the right-wing boards and sent it out to Jeremy Roenick, who made a nice move to beat Shtalenkov with a back-hander. Roenick scored again at 17:12 of the third.

Shtalenkov started for the second game in a row Tuesday, as Coach Ron Wilson chose to go with him again after Shtalenkov’s performance Sunday’s 3-2 victory over the Kings.

Guy Hebert is the best-known Duck goalie, and most everyone assumes Hebert is No. 1. But Wilson contends that there isn’t a No. 1 goalie--his opinion is the only one that matters--and keeps splitting up the duty.

The team’s lineup is far from set.

Duck rookie Valeri Karpov, who was scratched against the Kings’ Sunday because he had grown tentative after what Wilson called a collapse of confidence, caught a break and was back in the lineup against Chicago. Wilson inserted him because right wing Joe Sacco couldn’t play because of a sprained left thumb.

Veteran center Anatoli Semenov had no such luck, and was scratched for the second game in a row and the third this season.

Semenov was the Ducks’ best player early last season, but he is in Wilson’s doghouse even though Wilson admires his finesse. The problem seems to be that Semenov has been lax defensively, and produced too little offensively. Wilson can’t help but think Semenov is still playing a little gingerly more than a year after an errant hit by Stu Grimson dislocated Semenov’s left elbow on Dec. 7, 1993.

Though the injury has healed, he has only three goals and six assists in the 27 games since injury--including one goal and two assists this season, along with a plus-minus rating of minus-seven.

“He seems a little leery of contact,” Wilson said. “I think last year’s injury has a lot to do with it. He has to get over that.”

Wilson said Semenov probably will get a chance to prove he’s over it on the upcoming trip, when Sacco and left wing Garry Valk should also return.

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Duck Notes

Right wing Joe Sacco was the last Duck to have played in every game in franchise history, but his streak ended at 93 games when he missed Tuesday’s game (sprained left thumb). . . . Chicago right wing Joe Murphy, who has eight goals in eight games, did not play because of a pulled groin. . . . Duck Coach Ron Wilson scratched rookie defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, saying he seemed “awe-struck” against the Kings and didn’t play as well as he had in earlier games. . . . Play was halted several minutes in the second period when referee Rob Shick left the ice and entered the dressing room to have his right knee re-taped.

* BLUES TIE KINGS

Esa Tikkanen’s late goal forces Kings to settle for 5-5 tie. C6