Ducks Maintain Pattern of Inconsistency

The Mighty Ducks rally for an inspiring, 2-1, overtime victory last Wednesday over the Vancouver Canucks, ending an eight-game winless streak against their Pacific Division rival.

That’s two giant steps forward, if you please.

The Ducks play more than 40 listless minutes against the Kings on Saturday, falling behind by scores of 4-1 and 5-2 before snapping to life too late to pull out a victory.

Sorry, that’s three giant steps backward.

If the Ducks seem as if they’re skating in place, maybe it’s because they are. Just past the midway point of their third season, inconsistency remains their prime method of operation. Momentum seems a tough thing for the Ducks (17-27-5, 39 points) to capture for an extended period.

They got encouraging results at Vancouver but they couldn’t regain that winning form and fell with a thud, 5-4, to the Kings at the Forum.

Duck Coach Ron Wilson ticked off the reasons why the Ducks couldn’t win their second in a row.

They were too fancy with the puck.

They took bad penalties.

They weren’t as intense as the Kings.

“I couldn’t believe all the fancy passes,” said Wilson, who suffered his 100th career loss. “Three drop passes, a behind-the-back pass. . . . Look at the Kings, they’re playing it really simple. Watch Wayne Gretzky and see how simple he keeps the game.

“We were trying to be as cute as our [new] jerseys. They [the Kings] were playing in the trenches. That was the difference in the game.”

Curiously, the Ducks spent much of the last few practices concentrating on taking the puck strong to the net, shooting rather than making an extra pass.

“We worked on simple 2-on-1s, driving and shooting,” Wilson said. “We want to be creative. But they don’t understand that simplicity is the key offensively. Heck, a shot might go in.”

The Ducks couldn’t stick to the plan, however, and were outscored, 4-2, and outshot, 31-17, after two periods.

A bit of undisciplined play also proved costly to the Ducks. The Kings scored three power-play goals, including what turned out to be the back-breaking goals. Jari Kurri’s goal 9:26 into the second period gave the Kings a 4-1 lead and came with Duck defenseman Jason York off for tripping. Marty McSorley provided the eventual game-winner with Garry Valk in the box for tripping early in the third period.

“You can’t take lazy penalties against that club,” Wilson said. “We’re down, 5-2, in the third instead of only 4-2, needing three goals to tie instead of two.”

They scored twice in the game’s final 13:30, but couldn’t produce a third against Kelly Hrudey.

“They lost, 8-2, to Hartford the other night,” said Duck goaltender Guy Hebert, who stopped 37 of 42 shots. “We thought they might be feeling sorry for themselves.”

Clearly, that was not the case. Now, it’s the Ducks who must rebound from a disappointing effort.