Dallas Deals Blow to Ducks’ Playoff Hopes

It’s the nature of a playoff race that momentum seems to shift dramatically in a day, only to shift back on another.

The Mighty Ducks watched the pendulum swing away from them during a 3-1 loss to Dallas in front of 15,989 Thursday at Reunion Arena. Down by one goal in the final minute, they pulled goalie Guy Hebert for an extra attacker and made a last effort to tie and eke out an important point in the standings, but the Stars’ Brent Gilchrist scored into the empty net with 2.5 seconds left.

“This is a devastating loss--as any are right now, especially because of what the other teams do while you have a couple of days off,” said Duck Coach Ron Wilson, whose team remained four points behind Winnipeg for the final Western Conference playoff spot but has one less opportunity to make up ground, with the season down to eight games.

By the time the Ducks play their next game Sunday in San Jose, Winnipeg could be six points ahead, or Edmonton might have passed the Ducks for ninth place. The Jets and Oilers play Friday in Edmonton, and the Oilers play Toronto Saturday.

The Jets, trapped in a downward spiral a few days ago, have won their last two games convincingly, beating Dallas and Colorado. The Ducks, whose seven-game unbeaten streak was ended by Detroit on Monday, have lost their last two--and this one was more discouraging because Dallas trails them in the standings and has beaten them nine times in a row, dating back two seasons.

“Very disappointing,” the Ducks’ Teemu Selanne said quietly after the game, casting his eyes downward. “We knew how important this game was, but we still have a good chance. If we beat San Jose Sunday, then we have five games at home. If we play well, we’ll make the playoffs. This is going to make our job a little more difficult.”

The Ducks had difficulty putting the puck in the net Thursday, despite plenty of scoring chances. Dallas goalie Darcy Wakaluk made 28 saves, and the Ducks converted only one of eight power-play opportunities.

Their power play has been dramatically better since the arrival of Selanne and point man Fredrik Olausson, but the Ducks were 0 for 8 over their previous two games, and weren’t very successful Thursday despite having a man advantage for a 4 1/2-minute stretch in the first period--including two five-on-threes.

‘You can’t win games with one goal. It’s simple,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “We had our chances. We just didn’t bury them. Playoff hockey is point A to point B, a straight line. It’s like we were going zig-zag, dippy-do. I’m sorry, that doesn’t work. We need basic hockey.”

Selanne appeared to have given the Ducks a 1-0 lead in the first, but referee Lance Roberts disallowed the apparent goal because the Ducks’ Roman Oksiuta had both skates in the crease when Selanne put the puck into the net from the left circle with the Ducks on a five-on-three.

“I’m not going to argue that he wasn’t in the crease,” Wilson said. “But if you look at most goals, 90% should be called back.”

“I stay all the time in front of the net,” Oksiuta said. “That’s my job.”

Selanne shrugged.

“He said he was in the crease. I just thought we’d score more goals. We had great opportunities in the first. We didn’t score in the first period and it just killed us. I don’t know how many scoring chances we need to get three or four goals.”

Dallas scored the game’s first goal 8:24 into the second on a power play when Brent Fedyk cut to the net behind the Ducks’ defense and took a perfect cross-ice pass from Mike Modano.

Oksiuta partly made up for his error in the second, when he stood in front of the net--though not in the crease this time--long enough to swat in the puck during a persistent attack by the Ducks.

But that proved to be the only goal the Ducks would get, and Todd Harvey scored the game-winner on a power play at 16:39 of the second when he deflected Darryl Sydor’s shot from in front of the net, popping the puck up and over Hebert’s head and into the net.

“It’s unbelievable,” Dollas said. “It seems like there’s never a clean one. It hits somebody, bobs over somebody’s head. We did a great job and there were only seven seconds left [on the power play], and he throws it at the net. I don’t know what the hell it hit.”