Travel-Weary Ducks Run Out of Gas, 6-1 : Hockey: Playing fifth game in nine days, they lose in Vancouver.

Five games, five cities, nine days. If this was Friday, this must be . . . ? Wait, the itinerary must be here somewhere.

The Mighty Ducks reached Vancouver Friday at 11:15 a.m., grabbed a quick lunch and a nap, then got drilled by the Vancouver Canucks, 6-1, at the Pacific Coliseum.

It might not have mattered if the road-weary Ducks had been well rested. After a sluggish start, the Canucks used superior speed and skill to overwhelm the Ducks. Goaltender Kirk McLean stopped 30 shots and shut out the Ducks until Robert Dirk scored with 8:44 left in the game.

By the time Vancouver’s Pavel Bure flew in alone to score on a defenseless Guy Hebert, the Canucks had sewn up their second consecutive convincing victory this week. They defeated the Kings, 5-2, on Wednesday.

Vancouver led, 3-0, after Bure’s goal--at the 12:12 mark of the second period--and Herbert was gone, replaced by backup Mikhail Shtalenkov. Coach Ron Wilson said he didn’t want Hebert to endure further shelling. Hebert played in 24 of the last 27 games, including Thursday’s 3-1 victory over Winnipeg at The Pond.

“I thought I might as well give him some rest,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t his fault. Not at all. I thought he played well.”

The rest of the Ducks spent too much time chasing Bure, Geoff Courtnall and Trevor Linden. They played well in spurts, won a few battles but simply couldn’t keep pace.

Power-play goals by Linden, late in the first period, and Jyrki Lumme, 23 seconds into the second, gave Vancouver more than enough to put the Ducks away. Courtnall set up each goal with passes from behind the goal line into the slot. All Linden and Lumme had to do was swat the puck past Hebert.

In the third period, Martin Gelinas scored twice as the Canucks built a 5-0 lead.

The Ducks’ power play, second-weakest in the NHL at 11% going into the game, was scoreless on seven chances, which didn’t help matters.

The other day, Wilson issued a challenge, calling on his players to seize the moment, knowing a few more losses would end their already slim playoff chances. They responded against Winnipeg, but couldn’t make a dent against Vancouver Friday.

“Where are we going?” Peter Douris said of the team’s attitude in the final 16 games. “Are we going to fold up our tent? Or are we going to jump up in the standings? It’s in our hands.

“Ron’s saying there aren’t any excuses anymore--and there really aren’t any. Everything is working to our advantage going down the home stretch.”

The long trips have come to an end and the Ducks play 11 of their final 16 games at The Pond. They also play the Kings twice at the Forum.

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Duck Notes

The Hockey News rates Duck defenseman Tom Kurvers as one of the most likely players to be traded before the April 7 deadline. It’s nothing new to him. After all, the Ducks are Kurvers’ seventh NHL team in 11 seasons. He was scratched for the fourth time in five games on Friday. . . . Winnipeg’s Dave Manson on Duck rookie Paul Kariya: “It’s unfair to him to have people compare him to (Wayne) Gretzky, and it’s unfair for people to expect a young player to carry the franchise--not that he isn’t capable of it.”