Page: Trades Will Strengthen Areas of Weakness

Coach Pierre Page says the Mighty Ducks filled three glaring needs when they acquired goaltender Patrick Lalime, center Josef Marha and defenseman Jamie Pushor in the final hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

“Pushor represents grit,” Page said. “Marha has the speed. And with Lalime we addressed the goaltending issue. We addressed three key positions pretty quick.”

Lalime is a pupil of Duck goaltending consultant Francois Allaire, who tutored him at the junior level before he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.

“He plays Francois’ style, but he’s raw and just starting out,” Page said of Lalime, an unsigned restricted free agent who has not played for the Penguins this season.

Page resigned as coach and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) not long before Marha was drafted in 1994, but knows him well.

“I remember the scouts were all talking about him,” he said.

Pushor has the size and the stay-at-home defensive style the Ducks have lacked this season. He is expected to get considerably more ice time than he was getting for the Detroit Red Wings.

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Teemu Selanne says he expects defenseman Dmitri Mironov to excel in his new role with the Red Wings. Mironov probably will play a key role on the power play in Detroit.

“If you look at our defensemen, if we had more guys who could play on the penalty kill and the power play, he wouldn’t have to do both,” Selanne said. “He was playing 25 to 30 minutes for us. That’s a lot.”

TONIGHT

Anaheim at Chicago

* 5:30 PST

* Channel 9

Site--United Center.

Radio--KRLA (1110), KCKC (1350), KPLS (830).

Records--Ducks 23-37-10, Blackhawks 28-30-12.

Record vs. Blackhawks--1-2.

Update--The Ducks are unbeaten in three consecutive games for the first time since January, going 2-0-1 against Ottawa, Montreal and Philadelphia. Marha and Pushor are expected to be in uniform tonight. Lalime probably will be signed to a new contract soon. The Ducks also recalled left wing Mike Leclerc from Cincinnati of the American Hockey League. Leclerc scored the winning goal in a March game against Chicago that propelled the Ducks into the playoffs last season. Goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov is expected to start his ninth consecutive game tonight. Chicago defenseman Chris Chelios has three goals this season, one in each game against the Ducks.