Ducks Are Not Whistling a Happy Tune After Loss

The streak is over.

OK, so it wasn’t much of a streak. But it was the Mighty Ducks’ only winning streak of the season, even if it was only two games.

Still, their 3-2 loss to St. Louis Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 16,419 at the Pond was no terrible setback--though it did cost them a chance to emerge from last place in the Western Conference.

The Ducks nearly scored the tying goal twice--and in the Ducks’ opinion, they actually did score the tying goal, but it was waved off. A few minutes after goalie Grant Fuhr stopped Teemu Selanne on a breakaway with 10 minutes left, an apparent goal by Steve Rucchin was disallowed because referee Rob Shick had blown his whistle.

It was, however, a very quick whistle, with Fuhr only momentarily covering the puck with his right arm after Darren Van Impe’s shot caromed off the post behind him and Rucchin jammed it in with about seven minutes left.

“It was the wrong call,” Rucchin said. “[Shick] said I knocked the puck in from under the goalie’s glove. But it was not under his glove, it was beside his arm. It was about three-quarters exposed, and in my view that’s a loose puck.”

Fuhr didn’t exactly contest Rucchin’s point.

“I think [Shick] just lost sight of it,” Fuhr said. “The whistle might have been a little quick, but life goes on.”

Duck Coach Ron Wilson called the disallowed goal “the alleged no-goal,” but said, “You can’t appeal. He made the decision. That’s that.”

The Blues had taken their first lead of the game at 8:34 of the final period, when center Robert Petrovicky, called up from the minors last week, found enough space from close range to put the puck into the near corner for a 3-2 lead. Petrovicky’s goal came just as a St. Louis power play ended.

The score was tied, 2-2, going into the third, with the scoring coming in a couple of flurries of a game Duck winger Warren Rychel called “boring” with a lackluster work ethic by the home team.

The Ducks scored first when Rucchin skillfully deflected Paul Kariya’s power-play point shot up and into the net 9:23 into the game. St. Louis countered with a power-play goal when Pierre Turgeon set up behind the net and slipped the puck past Bobby Dollas’ skate to Brett Hull, whose quick wrist shot beat Guy Hebert to the upper corner at 11:33. The goal leaves Hull four shy of 500 for his career.

The next goal didn’t come until midway through the second, when Jari Kurri stayed after a rebound and reached out on his backhand to knock it into the net from a crowd in front--paying the price when Turgeon decked him. The goal was Kurri’s fifth of the season, and moved him into the 12th on the NHL career scoring list with 1,354 points, passing Guy Lafleur. Brian Bellows assisted on both Duck goals.

Little more than a minute after Kurri’s goal, the Ducks allowed St. Louis to score the tying goal when Geoff Courtnall took a pass from Peter Zezel from behind the net to score at 11:08 of the second.

“I don’t think we suffered a letdown,” Wilson said. “It was a very close game. They scored one more.”

Allegedly.

“The call was made. There’s nothing we can do,” Rucchin said. “That’s not really an excuse. We had a lot of other chances.”