Ducks Fizzle Against Flames : Hockey: Calgary scores three goals in final eight minutes to win, 5-3, but Wilson likes the effort.

Keeping track of the W’s and L’s has become such a discouraging exercise for the Mighty Ducks that on Sunday afternoon their coach basically settled for an E, for effort.

The Ducks had a two-goal lead over division-leading Calgary but didn’t protect it, losing to the Flames, 5-3, after giving up three goals in the final eight minutes. An empty-net goal by Ronnie Stern with 31 seconds left sealed the outcome before 17,174 at The Pond of Anaheim.

It’s an indication of the depth of the second-year team’s struggles that Coach Ron Wilson chose to focus on the work ethic of a team that has won only two of its last 12 games and has scored more than two goals only five times this season.

“Every loss is disappointing, but when the effort’s there, I can go to bed and sleep,” Wilson said. “The only thing I’m gauging right now is effort.”

Some of his players either had a tougher time swallowing the loss or were just more straightforward about it.

“I thought we carried the play the first two periods, but when you go into the third period up, 2-1, and lose, 5-3, something’s wrong,” said center Bob Corkum. Corkum was back in the lineup after missing four games with post-concussion syndrome resulting from an elbow to his head from Edmonton’s Bryan Marchment on Feb. 12.

“I’m not going to point fingers, but there’s no reason to be looking for a third goal when you’re up, 2-1,” Corkum said. “I’m sour about this loss. I didn’t like our play at all in the third period.”

Veteran defenseman Tom Kurvers, banished from the lineup for three games because of his poor defensive play, got another chance on Sunday. He responded with a more sound effort and scored a power-play goal that gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the second when he hung tough in front of the net and knocked the puck in off a pass from Paul Kariya. It was Kurvers’ fourth goal of the season.

The Ducks led, 2-0, after Shaun Van Allen ripped a shot from the top of the left circle into the opposite corner of the net, beating Trevor Kidd high at 8:53 of the second.

With a two-goal lead, the Ducks could forget that they managed only two shots in the first period, a season-low. They could also go into their characteristic defensive shell, but they didn’t--or didn’t do it well enough.

Calgary, which leads the Pacific Division with a 9-6-3 record, cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:19 of the second when Sheldon Kennedy, camped out in front of the Ducks’ net, deflected Phil Housley’s point shot.

Kevin Dahl tied the score 2 1/2 minutes into the third, and then Kennedy scored the go-ahead goal, his second goal of the game, on a bit of a funny bounce from close range when he knocked the puck high in the air and into the net behind Duck goalie Guy Hebert.

Kidd, who stopped Joe Sacco on a two-on-one rush shortly before Kennedy’s go-ahead goal, made 19 saves for the victory.

The score was 4-2 after a shot by Kurvers was blocked on one end and Robert Reichel took off on a breakaway, giving the Flames a two-goal lead at 15:54.

Kariya, who hadn’t scored a goal since Feb. 1, nine games ago, tightened the score when he beat Kidd from slightly to the left of the net at 18:35 for his fifth goal and team-high 11th point of the season. But the Ducks’ couldn’t tie it, and Stern sealed the outcome after Hebert was pulled for an extra attacker.