Duck Hopes Dealt Damaging Blow : Hockey: San Jose wins, 5-2, pulls into tie with Kings for final playoff spot.

For quite some time, the Mighty Ducks have been pointing to their game against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night at The Pond of Anaheim as their ace in the hole, a chance to bring their playoff hopes closer to reality.

With their chances for a victory fading fast late in the third period and his team trailing by two goals as the Ducks prepared to go on a power play, Coach Ron Wilson played his ace in the hole, challenging goalie Arturs Irbe’s stick and winning--only to lose the game anyway, 5-2.

“I was waiting for the moment,” Wilson said. “I had my fingers crossed.”

The penalty for an illegal stick gave the Ducks a two-man advantage for two minutes starting at 15:41, but they couldn’t convert.

“We hit the crossbar once,” Wilson said. “But we didn’t have the snap on the five on three.”

The Sharks moved into a tie with the Kings for the eighth and final playoff spot, and the Ducks remained two points back. If the season ended today, the Sharks would advance to play Detroit because they would win the tiebreaker by having more victories than the Kings.

“It was a big game, a must-win situation for both teams,” Shark center Igor Larionov said.

Duck center Stephan Lebeau knew it too.

“We know what the situation is right now,” he said. “We’ll need some help from the other teams, no doubt, but we’re not giving up until it’s over.”

Wilson’s challenge of Irbe’s stick--reminiscent of Montreal’s Jacques Demers challenging the Kings’ Marty McSorley in the Stanley Cup finals--proved a good gamble, one partly inspired by Lebeau, who was on that Montreal team and wondered out loud if the Ducks shouldn’t try it too. Irbe’s stick was measured, it apparently exceeded the limit of a 3 1/2-inch width except at the heel, and play was delayed while the Sharks sought a legal stick.

The gamesmanship proved futile when the Ducks didn’t score, but it’s the sort of gamble that can be taken any time.

“I’d say 99% of the guys in the league use illegal stick-widths,” the Ducks’ Bob Corkum said.

The Sharks’ next game is against the Kings on Friday in San Jose. Then the Kings and Ducks square off for their final showdown Sunday at the Forum.

After that, the Ducks play St. Louis and Toronto next week at The Pond.

“I told Ron if we don’t make it, I want it to go to the last minute of the Toronto game,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “We’ve got to squeeze every bit of experience we can out of this.”

The Sharks were clinging to a 3-2 lead at the beginning of the third period, but they opened it up again at 11:11, going ahead, 4-2, when Jamie Baker went around goalie Guy Hebert to score after Hebert went down early. Sandis Ozolinsh nailed down the victory at 14:39 when he scored on a power play.

The Ducks scored first Wednesday--usually a key indicator for them--on a well-executed power-play goal by Paul Kariya, but the Sharks scored the next three and took a 3-1 lead a little less than midway through the second period.

The Ducks were crashing the net late in the period, but Irbe held up and the game went to the third with the Sharks still leading, 3-2.

Until Wednesday, the season series had been a complete reversal from last year’s. The Sharks swept the Ducks, 6-0, last year, only to lose the first four decisively this season.