Ducks Suffer Usual Flameout

This was supposed to be the season the jokes ceased. The Mighty Ducks were determined to become more than merely big team merchandise sellers. They wanted to start fast, corner the Southland hockey market and perhaps make the playoffs for the first time.

It’s not happening.

The Ducks maintained their stranglehold on last place in the Pacific Division with a lackluster, 4-1, loss to the Calgary Flames Sunday at the Pond. It was their seventh consecutive loss, a franchise record.

At game’s end, Coach Ron Wilson said he is trying to make do with the players General Manager Jack Ferreira has supplied. Wilson said it hasn’t been easy.

“It’s hard to replace people when other teams don’t want the players you have,” Wilson said. “You can’t just give them away. It [the seven-game losing streak] has exposed that we’re not a very deep team without Paul Kariya.”

The Ducks, 1-8-2 and off to their worst start in their four-year history, had too many defensive breakdowns to win Sunday.

Plus, they scored only their fourth goal in five games since blowing a 3-1 lead in a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia on Oct. 16.

The offensive problems are easy to pinpoint. Without Kariya, a 50-goal scorer last season, the Ducks have had to rely on Teemu Selanne and a cast of grinders.

“We’re not asking--or we’re not expecting them to score. We’re not asking them to replace Paul Kariya,” Wilson said of his more defensive-minded players. “If you’ve scored eight goals for your career high, you’re not going to go out and score 20 to 25 goals. Goal-scoring is an art. When you’re a guy whose normal role is to forecheck and play the other team even and work in the corners, it’s not easy to jump on the ice and score.

“Other people aren’t capable of creating open ice like Paul can.

“It’s awfully unfair to ask some guys, ‘Why can’t you score?’ Well, it’s the same reasons for the last five or six years.”

The Ducks hoped forward Ted Drury would add depth while Kariya’s abdominal injury mends. But by trading defenseman Jason York and forward Shaun Van Allen to get Drury from Ottawa on Oct. 1, the Ducks have been weakened at both ends of the ice.

Drury has only two goals and five points. York and Van Allen were two of the Ducks’ better defensive players.

The Ducks also had a chance to sign veteran Bernie Nicholls during the off-season. Nicholls, who lives in Orange County, made it clear he wanted to join the Ducks as a free agent. Instead, the Ducks signed Jari Kurri.

Nicholls, who signed with San Jose, has four goals and 13 points. Kurri’s last goal was Oct. 10.

The good news is that Kariya could be ready to play this week, but the question is: How well can he play defense?

Defensive breakdowns hurt the Ducks in the third period Sunday.

Trailing, 2-1, the Ducks gave up a goal on a breakaway by Todd Hlushko at the 2:49 mark. Dave Gagner, standing alone at the left post, then redirected Cale Hulse’s shot from the right point into the net for a 4-1 Calgary lead 28 seconds later.

Theoren Fleury and Gagner had the division-leading Flames’ first two goals. Kevin Todd had the Ducks’ only goal.

“A bad bounce, a missed assignment and ‘boom,’ the puck’s in our net,” defenseman Bobby Dollas said. “It’s real hard to be positive right now.”

Goaltender Guy Hebert didn’t last past the 3:17 mark of the third period. He was removed in favor of Mikhail Shtalenkov after the Flames’ fourth goal.

The Ducks didn’t back away from physical challenges, but any spark provided by enforcers Ken Baumgartner and Warren Rychel didn’t last long. Baumgartner fought Hulse in a lengthy second-period battle and Rychel tangled with Jamie Huscroft.

“It’s really going to take an ugly win for us to get out of this slump,” Dollas said. “It’s still the little things that come back to haunt us. We probably played solid for 57 minutes. But in those three minutes there were four goals and it was, ‘Game over.’ ”