Ducks Go Down in Flames Again

The Mighty Ducks spent Wednesday night making the Calgary Flames look like Stanley Cup champions, left wing Marty McInnis look like the Hart Trophy winner, goaltender Rick Tabaracci look like . . .

Well, you get the idea.

Just when it seems it can’t get any worse, the Ducks plunge to new depths. Their 5-2 loss to the Flames before 16,758 early-departing fans at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was simply their latest deep-sea adventure.

One night after squandering a two-goal lead in a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Ducks lacked the required punch to subdue even one of the NHL’s weakest teams.

The Ducks have three games left before the 17-day Olympic break to get their game straightened out. They certainly didn’t have anything going for them against the pumped-up Flames on Wednesday.

McInnis had two goals and one assist and Tabaracci, making his first start since Jan. 9, stopped 26 of 28 shots. German Titov also scored for the Flames, who won their second in a row after a four-game losing streak.

The Ducks, winless in three games (0-2-1), appeared out of sync right from the start against a team they had defeated, 5-1, on Dec. 22 at the Pond.

At the end, they were forced to play without their best player, Paul Kariya, who was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for spearing Calgary’s Ed Ward midway through the third period.

The major and game misconduct were the first of Kariya’s NHL career and probably mean the end of his two-year hold on the Lady Byng award for gentlemanly play.

Kariya had 17 penalty minutes in Wednesday’s game. He had 30 total in his first three seasons.

Moreover it was the Ducks’ second game misconduct in as many games, one sure sign of their mounting frustration as they slip farther from playoff contention.

Defenseman Dmitri Mironov received 10-minute, game and gross misconducts after a confrontation with referee Mark Faucette in the San Jose game. Mironov cursed at Faucette and slammed his stick against the boards in anger.

So desperate was Coach Pierre Page to find a way to jump-start the Ducks’ sagging spirits that he split up the Kariya-Steve Rucchin-Teemu Selanne line to start the second period.

He moved enforcer Brent Severyn up from the fourth line to play with Kariya and Rucchin. Selanne played with Sean Pronger and Matt Cullen.

Funny thing. The moves worked, for a while at least.

Severyn energized the Ducks as much as anyone other than Kariya or Selanne could. He fought Rocky Thompson to a first-period draw, raced past the Duck bench to give his teammates a quick, “Let’s go, boys,” then headed to the penalty box.

The Pronger-Cullen-Selanne line produced a second-period goal that seemed to give the Ducks some brief momentum. Cullen set up Pronger’s first goal since Oct. 30 against the Boston Bruins with a cross-ice pass.

The goal cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1 at 7:15 of the second period. But the Flames gained control again on Todd Simpson’s goal that gave them a 3-1 advantage at 17:45 of the second.

McInnis, who went into the game trailing NHL leading scorer Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh by 35 points, assisted on Simpson’s goal. McInnis also scored Calgary’s first two goals.

OK, one was a fluke, but the down-and-out Flames are in no position to quibble with good fortunate.

McInnis scored the Flames’ first goal with a shot Duck goaltender Guy Hebert never saw at 8:57 of the first period. His first shot was blocked in front, but his second found its way through traffic and past Hebert.

McInnis’ second goal, at 19:42 of the first, bounced off Kariya and into the net after Hebert made an initial save on a two-on-one break.

By the end of the period, Calgary had outshot the Ducks, 17-6. The Flames’ advantage grew to 45-28 by game’s end.

Titov and Derek Morris scored third-period goals to put the game out of reach for the Flames. Scott Young scored the Ducks’ other goal.