Ducks Fit to Be Tied After Losing Lead in San Jose

The Mighty Ducks keep saying they want to put the pedal to the metal going into the playoffs. At the moment, their tank is just about on empty.

The last-place San Jose Sharks tied the Ducks, 5-5, on Wednesday in a wildly see-sawing game after Marty McSorley scored with 22 seconds left in the third period.

Despite a faltering performance, the Ducks had a victory within their grasp after scoring four times in the third period.

“We looked exhausted most of the game,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “But we regrouped in the third. Guys really dug down.

“With 30 seconds left, I was thinking it was a miracle two points, and pretty much sealed [a playoff berth]. But it’s a point, in a game where you could have lost two points.”

Even with the tie, the Ducks set a club record for points in a season by reaching 79.

The Ducks aren’t in real trouble yet, but they aren’t cruising into the playoffs either after consecutive ties.

With three games left, they are alone in fourth place with 79 points, seven points ahead of ninth-place Calgary, which has five games left and is still trying to crash the top eight. Even if Calgary went 5-0, the Ducks could go 2-1 and finish ahead of them.

The bigger concern is recovering their form. Wilson thinks time off will help after an arduous trip and four games in the last six nights.

Goalie Guy Hebert came back from a week’s rest, starting for the first time in four games after sitting out because of fatigue brought on by starting 42 of the previous 43.

Hebert was spectacular during the Ducks’ push to get into playoff position, but he wasn’t back in peak form yet Wednesday.

“I thought he made some big saves, but he had trouble controlling some rebounds,” Wilson said. “Guy’s our No. 1 goalie, and we’ve got to prepare Guy for the playoffs. Mike [Shtalenkov] will probably play one more game, and Guy will play two.”

The Ducks also miss the steadying influence of veteran defenseman Bobby Dollas, who has missed the last two games because of chicken pox and isn’t expected to return before Wednesday against the Kings at the earliest.

The Sharks had long been eliminated from the playoff picture and had won only twice in their last 11 games. But they were coming off a humiliating 7-1 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday, and the rivalry with the Ducks is always keen.

The Ducks--who trailed by two goals at the start of the third--had taken a 5-4 lead at the 12:23 mark when Teemu Selanne took a pass from Paul Kariya and put the puck past desperately flailing goalie Kelly Hrudey for his 48th goal of the season.

But the tying goal came in the final minutes after the Ducks could not control a faceoff in their own end and McSorley, the former King, finally came up with the puck and fired it past Hebert.

San Jose led, 3-1, going into the third, but the Ducks came back to tie the score behind goals from two of their veteran players in what became a see-saw final 20 minutes.

Jari Kurri corralled a rebound in the slot 2:06 into the third period, scoring his 13th goal of the season and the 596th of his NHL career. He is four goals from becoming only the eighth NHL player to score 600.

A little more than two minutes later, Brian Bellows tied the score with his 15th goal of the season.

“We had two leads. We blew them,” Bellows said. “Once you get up, you feel you should win.

“But going into the third, we’d have been happy with a tie, and now we’re disappointed. That’s good. It shows guys are hungry.”