Ducks Inch Closer to Goal With Shutout

It’s hardly any easier to comb through the incredible tangle of the race for the Western Conference’s last five Stanley Cup playoff spots after Monday’s games, but the Mighty Ducks know this: They only have to win three more now.

They beat a justifiably nervous Vancouver team, 2-0, in front of 17,174 at the Pond and inched to two points behind eighth-place Winnipeg.

Guy Hebert made 32 saves for his second shutout in four games, but as Ducks’ General Manager Jack Ferreira rode the elevator to the dressing room afterward, he fairly grumbled.

“Can’t get a break,” he said.

That was because elsewhere on Monday night, Winnipeg was losing to St. Louis in the final minute before scoring with five seconds left to tie, 2-2. And Calgary fell behind Edmonton by two goals, then rallied to win, 3-2, moving into a tie for sixth with Vancouver three points ahead of the Ducks.

“It doesn’t appear we are going to get any help,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We can take care of our own business by winning three . . . It doesn’t matter what the other teams do, because we plan on winning all three.”

The Ducks can make the playoffs by winning at Colorado on Wednesday, then at home against Dallas on Friday and against Winnipeg on Sunday.

But that’s just one way: With help from other teams, they are still capable of passing any of five teams for a playoff spot. A mere five points separate fourth place from ninth. And every one of those teams is looking over their shoulders at a Duck team that has gone 10-2-2 in a mad dash to catch them.

“If you’d asked me three weeks ago if we could go 10-2-2 and still be two or three points out of the playoffs, I’d have said, ‘That’s not possible,”’ Wilson said. “Here it is, we might have to go 13-2-2 to make it?”

Vancouver, in particular, is a target, since the Canucks have only one game left, Saturday against Calgary. If the Canucks lose that game, the Ducks could pass them by going 1-1-1, winning the playoff spot on a tiebreaker because they would have more wins. But if the Canucks win, the Ducks would have to go 2-0-1.

“As hot as they’ve been, we’ve been the other way,” Vancouver Coach Pat Quinn said. “Clearly, they’ve been a heck of a hockey club the last 10, 12 games--and goaltending has been a big part of that . . . [Hebert] was good. Their whole team was good.”

The Ducks scored first after a forechecking Teemu Selanne stole a pass from Leif Rohlin, then cut behind the Vancouver goal and threw the puck in front to Steve Rucchin as he drove to the net. Rucchin’s 20th goal of the season gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead 12:02 into the game.

“Every game is a huge game,” Selanne said. “You just have to forget each victory right away. The situation is good for us. We don’t need anybody’s help right now.”

The score was 2-0 after Paul Kariya made a spectacular play late in the second. With the Ducks on a power play, Kariya came flying down the left wing, faked a shot, then saw Roman Oksiuta trailing the play and angled a pass back to him through three defenders.

Oksiuta put the puck past Corey Hirsch with two minutes left in the period, scoring his fifth goal in 11 games since joining the Ducks from Vancouver in exchange for Mike Sillinger.

Vancouver wasn’t without its chances, outshooting the Ducks, 32-22, and coming as close as the goalpost more than once. The red light behind the Ducks’ goal flickered on for moment in the first after Esa Tikkanen flipped a rebound up and off the crossbar, but the puck never entered the net. In the second, Frantisek Kucera’s point shot glanced off the far post.

That was close, but close doesn’t mean anything this time of year and the Ducks know it.

“Once you get down to the short strokes, you don’t look at it as going 5-0-1, 6-0-1,” Wilson said. “You look at going 3-0. That’s where we are now.”

Duck Notes

Single-game tickets for a potential first-round Stanley Cup playoff series involving the Ducks will go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Pond box office and Ticketmaster outlets. The parking lot will open at 7 a.m . . . The Ducks tied their franchise record of 33 victories, set in 1993-94 . . . Todd Ewen returned to the lineup after serving a three-game NHL suspension.