Ducks Fall to Canucks--Again : Hockey: Vancouver’s 3-1 victory at The Pond gives it 4-0-1 record against Anaheim this season.

The Mighty Ducks still have some fight in them, but it will take more than that to keep contending with the crowd of teams trying to make the playoffs.

The Ducks had won four of their last six games before Saturday night, when they tangled with the Canucks and lost, 3-1, in front of 17,174 at The Pond of Anaheim.

Vancouver has been a tough opponent all season for the Ducks, who ended the five-game series with only one tie.

By the time the Ducks started playing, Winnipeg already had beaten Toronto to move ahead of them in the chase for the final Western Conference playoff spot held by the Kings. The Ducks are in 11th place, but still only three points behind the Kings.

“Obviously it’s a bit of a blow, but no one’s packing it in yet,” forward Bob Corkum said. “We still control our destiny. It was a good effort. We need to come back and get ready to play San Jose on Monday.”

Most of the chances the Ducks created were stymied by goalie Kirk McLean, who made 28 saves. But much as the Ducks have all season, they stymied themselves on the power play, getting off precious few shots on six power-play opportunities and going 0 for the evening.

“You look at a lot of other teams and the guys on their power play have been playing seven or eight years,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “We’ve got some guys who’ve been here 30 games. It’s a big burden, but we’ll only get better.”

Still, the Ducks went into the third period tied, 1-1. But Vancouver started the period on a power play after Todd Ewen was called for roughing after the second period expired.

The Ducks had killed off four Vancouver power plays, but they didn’t hold off the fifth. Martin Gelinas cut in low on the right circle, and with goalie Guy Hebert hugging the near post, Gelinas beat him with a shot inside the far post at 1:58.

Vancouver made it 3-1 at 10:34 when Christian Ruuttu’s shot from the blue line went in.

The Ducks have shed their physical reputation recently in favor of finesse. But with Todd Ewen back in the lineup after a hand injury they are playing rough again. Corkum and Dave Karpa fought, Karpa despite his injured right wrist--and Ewen took several roughing penalties.

The Ducks played the Canucks tight for two periods, much as they did in a 5-0 loss Tuesday in Vancouver. The Canucks scored three third-period goals in that one, with Pavel Bure finishing off a hat trick.

After a scoreless first period Saturday, Vancouver took the lead 1:24 into the second on a rare goal by defenseman Bret Hedican.

Hedican and Hebert were buddies when they played together in St. Louis, and Hebert knows as well as anyone that Hedican’s game is defense, not offense.

When Roman Oksiuta headed around behind the net, Hebert was probably more concerned about a wraparound goal than his old pal, but Oksiuta threw the puck behind him into the slot just before he rounded the corner of the net, and Hedican jumped into the play to score. It was his second goal this season, and only his fourth in three-plus NHL seasons.

* THE NHL

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