Lapses Costing Ducks : Hockey: Anaheim’s offense is missing and once-dependable defense also is absent in 5-1 loss to Calgary.

The Mighty Ducks were nearly shut out again Thursday night, and then they shut the dressing-room door.

For 30 minutes, the players talked about what has happened to their work ethic and bruising style.

The Ducks won with toughness and discipline last season, not skill. But now their new offense has folded and their old defense has collapsed. After a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames at the Olympic Saddledome, they have lost five of their last six games--beating only the Kings.

Coach Ron Wilson says his team seems fragile, “like a whole house of cards.” The players make progress, and then they falter one after another, sometimes catastrophically. They closed the doors to try to solve what left wing Stu Grimson called “a case of mistaken identity.”

“We’re still a working-class team,” said Grimson, one of the team’s leaders and one of its few standouts against the Flames. “The two things this team is in control of are our ability to play physically and work hard. That’s what we have to do.”

And it’s what they’re not doing.

“We’re playing like a bunch of midgets,” Grimson said. “We don’t compete and don’t take the body. We think we’re going to be 20 stickhandlers and challenge Calgary one-on-one. Nothingcould be further from the truth.”

The Ducks aren’t scoring 5-on-5, or even 5-on-4.

In fact, they even had a two-man advantage for 1:05 in the third period and still failed to score. Rookie Paul Kariya--who hasn’t had a point in four games--hit the crossbar with one shot, and that was about it. Soon after, with the Ducks still holding a man advantage, Calgary goalie Trevor Kidd blocked a shot and the puck caromed out to Theoren Fleury, who beat Guy Hebert on a shorthanded breakaway, his second goal of the game.

The Ducks’ power play, worst in the NHL last season, was supposed to be bolstered by the addition of Kariya and power play specialist Tom Kurvers. But they entered the game with the fourth-worst power play in the league, and finished it 0 for 6, and 0 for their last 21.

Left wing Garry Valk, the team’s third-leading scorer last season, made his season debut after being hobbled for almost a month by a sprained left knee, but he isn’t yet in top condition. Center Anatoli Semenov returned after being scratched for two games and Wilson said he thought Semenov “played very well and did the job.”

Offense isn’t the only problem. Even after reverting to their defensive style, the Ducks are having breakdowns. Wilson was less than pleased with some of his veteran defensemen, singling out Bobby Dollas and Tom Kurvers, who left the front of the net just before Calgary scored one of its goals. He also said his team is not in the best shape, and if the Ducks aren’t in shape, they can’t wear anyone down with a physical game.

“We got fragile and we broke down,” he said. “I thought we played fine for 30 minutes.”

The Ducks didn’t get a shot on goal until more than 10 minutes into the game and managed only four in the first period for the second consecutive game. The Flames weren’t much better than the Ducks in the first period, managing only four themselves--and a draw was fine with the Ducks.

But Calgary scored three times in the second period--twice in 44 seconds.

Center Joe Nieuwendyk was questionable for the game because of back spasms, but he got the second assist on Wes Walz’s power-play goal at 8:12 of the second, then scored at 8:56, giving Calgary a 2-0 lead.

Fleury made it 3-0 at 15:58 when Robert Reichel got the puck behind the net and gave it to Fleury, who was open in front as he cut across the crease.

The Ducks broke a scoreless streak of 112:41 when rookie Steve Rucchin scored his first NHL goal at 9:44 of the third. Their streak covered parts of four games, but was still a long way from the team record of 200:26 set last March, when they were shut out three games in a row.

Grimson said the team’s crisis is caused by “immaturity”--not necessarily on the part of the young players.

“We’ve got to try as a group to challenge each other, hold out a hand and pull each other up.”

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Notes

Calgary defenseman Phil Housley left the game after being slashed on the hand by Tim Sweeney and did not return.