Ducks Sharp, Mogilny Sharper

The Mighty Ducks jumped on their treadmill again Thursday night at GM Place. Running hard, but not really getting anywhere, they were 5-3 losers to the Vancouver Canucks in front of 16,367.

This time, mistakes and shabby effort didn’t do them in. Vancouver’s Alexander Mogilny did the trick. Mogilny’s two goals and three assists proved far better than Temmu Selanne’s two-goal game for the Ducks.

Selanne’s goals were the 150th and 151st of his career, coming in his 235th NHL game. He has four goals and two assists in four games since last week’s trade with Winnipeg. Mogilny’s five-point game equaled his season high, set Dec. 1 against the San Jose Sharks. His 46th goal this season only 48 seconds into the third period proved to be the game-winner.

To finish off the night, and the Ducks, too, Mogilny assisted on Jim Dowd’s goal with 2:55 left in the game.

“All in all, I couldn’t be happier with our performance,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “We showed up, we competed, but we didn’t get the breaks. We couldn’t put away our [scoring] chances.”

It took the Ducks all of 1:15 to show they were intent on playing more passionately than during Wednesday’s mediocre effort against Edmonton, a 3-2 loss.

Rookie J.F. Jomphe again was at the center of the Ducks’ aggressive play. His wrist shot from the right circle bounced off Vancouver goaltender Corey Hirsch to Frederik Olausson, who tapped in the rebound for his first goal as a Duck.

More significantly, it gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead 1:15 into the game.

The Ducks then forgot to watch Mogilny closely enough and he put a slap shot from the right circle behind Guy Hebert only 18 seconds later. Hebert, who faced 40 shots Wednesday, gave way to Mikhail Shtalenkov to start the third after his back stiffened.

“He didn’t want to come out in the second, but we made a mutual decision that he wouldn’t start the third,” Wilson said.

Instead of folding after Mogilny’s first goal, as they did during Edmonton’s three-goal flurry in the first seven minutes of the second period Wednesday, the Ducks turned up the intensity.

“As much as I don’t like honorable losses, I’ve seen us taking steps against New Jersey and tonight,” Olausson said. “We can’t give up or we’re dead. We’ve got to look at the things we’ve done well and go from there.”

That they outshot the Canucks, 17-7, was only one measure of their fine first-period play. The Ducks had been outshot, 9-4, 9-5, and 17-6 in first periods of the first three games of this four-game trip. By game’s end, the Ducks outshot Vancouver, 40-27.

The Ducks also refused to back away from repeated challenges along the boards and in front of the net.

Perhaps their only serious gaffes were allowing Mogilny too much open ice. He didn’t flub his early opportunity, scoring his team-leading 45th goal.

Mogilny assisted on both Vancouver goals in the second period. He fed Cliff Ronning for a goal at the 14:52 mark, helping the Canucks to a 2-1 lead. Then Mogilny-to-Ronning-to-Jyrki Lumme produced the Canucks’ third goal. Lumme skated in from the right circle and beat Hebert on his glove side.

“You just can’t give Mogilny too many chances,” Olausson said.

Duck Notes

Rookie J.F. Jomphe on scoring his first NHL goal, which amounted to little more than tucking the puck into an open net, in a 3-2 loss to Edmonton Wednesday: “If I had missed that one I would have been pretty [angry].” Jomphe had several near-misses in his first three games in the NHL.