Nolan Puts Goaltenders on Thin Ice : Hockey: San Jose forward scores four goals. Neither Hebert nor Shtalenkov can stop the Sharks in 7-4 loss.

The Mighty Ducks had a goaltending battle on their hands Tuesday night, all right.

Guy Hebert and Mikhail Shtalenkov were both battling the puck.

And losing.

The San Jose Sharks, a team that had won six games all season, blistered the Ducks, 7-4, as Owen Nolan scored four goals without even needing the third period to do it.

The goaltending wasn’t good, but hardly any of the other Ducks were either, coming out flat and giving up repeated outnumbered rushes.

Hebert, once considered the Ducks’ No. 1 goalie, started for only the third time in 11 games and gave up a goal 1:22 into the game, another one 70 seconds later and a third before the first period was out.

“I gave up a goal a couple of minutes into the game, and it gave them life,” Hebert said. “That’s something I didn’t want to do. I gave up a bad goal on the second goal, and I don’t usually do that when I see the puck. If I could go back, I’d take them back.”

The first two were particularly weak, and Duck Coach Ron Wilson yanked Hebert for Shtalenkov, who allowed a power-play goal 57 seconds into the second and let in four goals in the period.

One goalie might have been too rested; the other probably was too tired. In any case, with no one left to turn to, Wilson left Shtalenkov in for the third and he didn’t allow a goal on six shots in the final 20 minutes.

“We came out flat in the first period and got behind the eight-ball right away, down 3-0,” defenseman David Karpa said.

“Today was just a complete disaster,” Paul Kariya said. “We’re not a good enough team to just turn it on when we want to. We’ve got to prepare better.”

Wilson said he pulled Hebert because, “you’re hoping to shake up the team, down 3-0. I think it worked but then we took a bad penalty to go down, 4-0.”

The Ducks came back to trail by two goals, 4-2, before Andrei Nazarov knocked in a puck that banked off the boards, hit the back of the post and hopped Oleg Tverdovsky’s stick as he attempted to clear it.

But penalties to Joe Sacco for high-sticking and Garry Valk for holding the stick gave San Jose more power play time. Nolan got his third goal with the Sharks on a five-on-three power play at 13:23 of the second, then added to it with his 16th of the season 34 seconds later, with them still holding a man advantage.

Nolan’s five-point game--he also had an assist--seemed so easy that when he scored his fourth goal at 13:57 of the second period, he just raised both arms to his sides.

It Nolan’s first four-goal game and the first in Shark history. The hat trick was the eighth of Nolan’s NHL career, and the first in the history of The Pond.

The Ducks trailed by as much as 7-2, and the crowd turned so surly that it booed the attendance when the scoreboard video flashed 17,174. That’s the official capacity, but the no-show count has been sky-high lately, reaching 2,300 last Sunday against Toronto.

Anyone searching for positives? Well, at least the Ducks didn’t have to worry about blowing another third-period lead. They never led.

Duck Notes

Right wing Todd Ewen returned after a 19-game absence because of hand surgery, giving the Ducks the toughness they’ve missed at times. “You can only ride the bike so long,” Ewen said. “My [behind] is in the shape of a bicycle seat.” . . . Center David Sacco, younger brother of Duck winger Joe Sacco, extended his career-high point streak to six games with a second-period assist. . . . Left wing Patrik Carnback, right wing Peter Douris and defensemen Robert Dirk and Bobby Dollas scored for the Ducks. . . . Steve Rucchin and Shaun Van Allen, the injured centers the Ducks desperately miss, are probably both at least a couple of weeks from returning but figure to join the team on the next trip beginning Jan. 5 at Calgary.