Ducks Find Modest Gains Are Plenty

One victory, three losses and two ties simply don’t add up to a standout trip for most NHL teams. But these are the Mighty Ducks, after all, and just when you think you have them pegged, they go and fool you.

Take Sunday’s game against the Florida Panthers, the Ducks’ sixth and last on a nine-day trip.

They were trailing by two goals after only 5:38, but rallied to tie the score by the end of the first period. They trailed by a goal late in the game, but tied the Panthers, 3-3, on Teemu Selanne’s goal with 40 seconds left in regulation.

In overtime, Duck goaltender Guy Hebert robbed Scott Mellanby with a glove save on a point-blank shot with five seconds to play. The Ducks did not have a shot on goal in the five-minute extra period but are happy with the 3-3 tie before 14,703 at Miami Arena.

“It was a good trip,” said Hebert, who stopped 40 of 43 shots. “Not in terms of points, but in terms of how we played. This should be good for building our momentum and confidence.”

The Ducks headed home with a two-game unbeaten streak (1-0-1) to start the season’s second half. Modest? You bet, but they aren’t picky at this point.

They began the trip by squandering a two-goal lead in the third period of a 5-5 tie against the St. Louis Blues, then were were shut out, 2-0, by the Chicago Blackhawks.

There was marked improvement in a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and a 3-2 defeat to the Washington Capitals. Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL’s worst team with a 9-24-8 record, indicated a breakthrough might be at hand.

“With the travel we’ve had, I mean it’s been unreal,” said defenseman Bobby Dollas, back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the first time in five seasons as a Duck. “It would have been very easy to say, ‘Let’s try hard another night.’ ”

Goals by Florida’s Chris Wells and Mellanby in the game’s first 5:38 seemed to be a sign the Ducks were thinking of home rather than building on Saturday’s victory.

Instead of folding, the Ducks increased their pressure.

Paul Kariya scored his seventh goal in 11 games since signing a two-year, $14-million contract. Kariya pounced on a rebound in the slot, then whipped a shot between goalie John Vanbiesbrouck’s pads with the Ducks on a power play midway through the period.

Then, with the Ducks short-handed, Steve Rucchin scored the tying goal with two seconds left in the period. His backhander sailed into an open net after Vanbiesbrouck moved to stop Scott Young’s blast from the left wing.

Florida seized control in the second period, taking the lead on Steve Washburn’s goal at 19:28. The Panthers renewed their attack on Hebert to start the final period, but they cracked down the stretch.

The Ducks buzzed the net, looking for the tying goal. And with Hebert on the bench in favor of a sixth skater in the final minute, Young ripped another hard shot from the left wing.

The rebound sailed to Selanne, who skated hard to the front of the net. With Vanbiesbrouck out of position as he was on Rucchin’s goal, Selanne had an open net.

“We needed this point badly,” said Selanne, who scored his NHL-leading 33rd goal and is two points from reaching 500 for his career. “It’s good to go home now. We have to try to find a way to play well there.”

Home was tough on the Ducks in the season’s first half. They were only 5-11-3 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. The road hasn’t been much of a treat either, which is why the Ducks today find themselves in the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference with a 14-21-8 record.

“I’m starting to see little glimpses of last year’s team peeking out now,” Dollas said.

The 1996-97 Ducks reached the midway mark with a 15-21-5 record, then went 21-12-8 to post their first winning season and earn their first playoff berth.

This season’s Ducks were 13-21-7 after 41 games and are 1-0-1 so far in the second half.

“We’ve got the guys in the locker room who believe we’re going to win the close ones,” Coach Pierre Page said. “That’s what happened to this team last year. They started believing they would win all the close ones.

“Tonight, we had that feeling.”