Ducks Tricky, Despite Losing

He got his first goal after only 40 seconds, racing ahead of the pack to score on a breakaway. The second came on a give and go. He couldn’t have missed on the third, one-timing a behind-the-back pass into a wide open net.

There was an embarrassment of riches for Teemu Selanne in a 12-minute 58-second burst in the first period at the Pond on Monday night. But by game’s end, there was merely embarrassment for the Mighty Ducks after a 6-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

“He’s played so well. I hated to let him down,” said defenseman Jason Marshall, who scored the Ducks’ fourth goal.

Selanne left the Duck dressing room without speaking to reporters after Richard Brennan and Jeff Friesen scored third-period goals 12 seconds apart to rally the Sharks to the victory and end the Ducks’ three-game winning streak. Owen Nolan added an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.

“When you play San Jose, you have to play hard and you have to play smart,” Duck Coach Pierre Page said. “It’s not enough just to play hard. It would be easy to blame this guy or blame that guy. We’ve been doing so many good things, but we’ll just have to go back to the drawing board.”

But the Ducks staggered instead of soared after Selanne’s 13th career three-goal game and third against the Sharks.

“It was a great period,” Selanne said of his natural hat trick during a TV interview after the first period. “They were all great passes. It’s so much easier when you have such great support.”

His 16th, 17th and 18th goals of the season extended his goal-scoring streak to 11 games, two short of the modern-era record of 13 set by the Kings’ Charlie Simmer in 1979-80.

He needs goals Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens and Friday against the Vancouver Canucks to match Simmer, now a TV commentator for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Harry “Punch” Broadbent of the original Ottawa Senators set the NHL record of 16 in a row in 1921-22.

At this point, all things seem possible for Selanne. After scoring only once in the season’s first seven games, he has had 17 goals in the past 11 games.

There have been hat tricks against the Sharks and the New York Rangers, on Oct. 26, but also two two-goal games during his streak.

Selanne on Monday wrestled the NHL goal-scoring lead away from Philadelphia’s John LeClair, who has 16. Selanne also is on pace for an 82-goal season, which would top his rookie total of 76 in 1992-93.

“I’ve just been throwing him out there, throwing him out, throwing him out,” Page said. “But I’ve been doing it in small doses--maybe 20 or 30 seconds a shift instead of 90 seconds.”

Selanne’s first shift lasted at least 40 seconds because that’s how long it took for the puck to wind up on his stick with no one nearby.

He faked San Jose goaltender Mike Vernon once, then slipped a backhander into the top left corner of the net.

Next, Selanne and Sean Pronger executed a give-and-go on a two-on-two. Pronger slipped Selanne the puck in the slot for his second goal and a 2-1 lead at the 7:05 mark.

He scored his third goal at 12:58 after defenseman Dmitri Mironov went wide, faked Vernon out of position at the right goal post, then whipped a behind-the-back pass into the slot.

Selanne nudged the puck into the net, sending the sellout crowd of 17,174 into a hat-throwing frenzy. The fans hailed him with a standing ovation.

And then came the Ducks’ great collapse.

San Jose’s Shean Donovan cut the lead to 3-2 only 2:01 into the second period. Two apparent game-tying goals were then washed out because a Shark was ruled to have been in the crease.

Marshall scored for a 4-2 Duck lead at 17:46, but Friesen countered for San Jose about two minutes later.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Scoring Streaks

Longest goal-scoring streaks in NHL history:

* 16 GAMES: Harry Broadbent, Ottawa, 1921-22

* 14 GAMES: Joe Malone, Montreal, 1917-18

* 13 GAMES: Newsy Lalonde, Montreal, 1920-21; Charlie Simmer, Kings, 1979-80

* 12 GAMES: Cy Denneny, Ottawa, 1917-18; Dave Lumley, Edmonton, 1981-82; Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh, 1992-93

* 11 GAMES: Teemu Selanne, Anaheim, 1997-98

Source: NHL Guide & Record Book.