Coyotes Defeat the Ducks

The Mighty Ducks understand that they need to “batten down the hatches” and play defensive hockey as long as Paul Kariya’s not in the lineup.

Too often, the floodgates have been opening instead.

The Ducks made some progress Saturday night. They were trailing by one goal until Keith Tkachuk scored an empty-net goal in the final minute to give Phoenix a 4-2 victory over the Ducks in front of 14,492 at America West Arena.

“They didn’t have very many scoring chances. We did a great job defensively,” said Duck Coach Ron Wilson, whose team didn’t allow the Coyotes a shot on goal until midway through the first period.

On the other hand, Phoenix managed to shut out Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri for the first time this season, and a power play that had been clicking was 0 for 5. The good news for the road-weary Ducks is their grueling season-opening trip is over, and they play 11 of their next 13 at home.

Without the trade between the Ducks and Winnipeg last season, Selanne would have been a Coyote himself. As it was, it meant little.

“It was nothing special,” Selanne said. “If this game would have been in Winnipeg it would have been a lot different. If it was in Winnipeg I would have been real nervous about it. It was normal.”

It was only the Coyotes’ second home game since moving from Winnipeg, and the high-energy crowd howled at every cue.

The Ducks held Phoenix to 22 shots--more than 10 under their average so far this season. Nevertheless, they trailed, 3-1, after Mike Stapleton scored at 5:10 of the third on a backhander from the slot.

Midway through the final period, it was as if the Ducks’ trusty alarm clock sounded. Two nights earlier, they scored four goals in the final 10 minutes against Colorado to salvage a 6-6 tie. This time, Roman Oksiuta scored to make the score 3-2 with precisely 10 minutes left.

It went no further, though, despite good chances for Selanne and Garry Valk.

Mikhail Shtalenkov started in goal for the Ducks, an easy-to-defend decision for Wilson since Shtalenkov shut out Chicago in his only appearance this season.

Guy Hebert has allowed an average of more than five goals a game with a save percentage of .846, a far cry from his usual .900-plus.

It hasn’t been all Hebert’s fault, by a long shot, with a shaky defense in front of him. Nevertheless, he hasn’t carried over his sharpness from the exhibition season.

Shtalenkov, on the other hand, probably would have started the game following his shutout Wednesday as a reward if it hadn’t been a back-to-back situation with the Ducks facing Colorado on Thursday.

Saturday, the defense had its steadiest outing so far, eliminating some of the disastrous and near-disastrous plays that have dogged the team.

“We’ve got some young defense that struggled, and they showed some signs of improvement,” Wilson said.

The first goal Shtalenkov allowed Saturday came on Mike Eastwood’s deflection of a Brad McCrimmon’s point shot on a power play.

Another Phoenix goal was disallowed because of a rule that allows a linesman to alert the referee to a stick-related infraction at the next stoppage of play. It was a painful application of the rule for Phoenix, which saw a goal by Shane Doan wiped out because McCrimmon had high-sticked Selanne at the other end of the ice earlier.

Instead of having a 2-0 lead, the Coyotes were killing off a four-minute Anaheim power play--though it was a strikingly ineffective attempt by the Ducks.

Still, they evened the score, 1-1, 7:27 into the second period after Ted Drury made a diving play to push the puck ahead for Joe Sacco, who chased it down coming down the left wing and rifled a shot past Wakaluk.

The Coyotes’ second goal was scored by Mike Gartner in a scramble in front of the net after Valeri Karpov couldn’t clear a loose puck and teammate Steve Rucchin fell onto Shtalenkov.

Gartner, who turns 37 on Oct. 29, has five goals in his first four games.

Phoenix was protecting a 3-2 lead in the final minute and the Ducks had pulled Shtalenkov for an extra attacker when the Ducks lost the puck and Gartner and Tkachuk got out on a two-on-one, with Tkachuk scoring into the empty net.

“Tonight’s game, we were a little tired at the end,” said Selanne, who is logging tremendous ice time as he tries to shoulder the offensive load. “But five games in eight days is a tough schedule. Those guys had a big advantage tonight.”