Ducks Are Powerless to Stop Predators

Coach Craig Hartsburg cut to the chase rather quickly after the Mighty Ducks watched a pretty good game during a 3-1 loss to the expansion Nashville Predators here Friday night.

Hartsburg didn’t name names, but it didn’t take Toe Blake or Eddie Shore to figure out where his postgame criticism was directed.

“Our power-play guys cost us the game,” said Hartsburg, referring to Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Steve Rucchin and Fredrik Olausson, among others who regularly play on the power play.

“Then the rest of the game Nashville outworked us,” Hartsburg continued. “Nashville played as a team. They competed and got rewarded. We didn’t want to compete. We didn’t want to pay the price. If we play like that, I don’t care who we play against, we’re not going to win.

“It starts with your best players and leaders. When they do things the right way, the others follow.”

To be sure, there were other troubles for the Ducks, who were outworked and worked over by game’s end. But converting only once in eight power-play chances angered Hartsburg most of all.

The Ducks went into the game converting on 12 of 59 (20.3%) chances with the man advantage in the last 11 games.

But the power-play unit stunk up Nashville Arena on Friday.

“We’re not working hard enough [on the power play],” Hartsburg said. “The guys are on their own program. They try plays we don’t work on in practice.”

The Ducks had several point-blank chances to seize control in the first period, but failed to capitalize when the Predators lost their smarts.

First, Nashville’s Tom Fitzgerald took a double high-sticking penalty, giving the Ducks a power play for four minutes at 3:18 of the first period.

Next, Drake Berehowsky was whistled for tripping, which set up a two-man advantage for the Ducks for 1:55.

But the Ducks came up empty, shanking their shots wide and looking disorganized.

“We had some very good chances,” Selanne said. “It should have been two or three to nothing in the first period.”

Instead, Nashville scored the game’s first two goals and kept the Ducks running on a treadmill the rest of the way.

“We didn’t get a lot of shots on net,” Kariya said. “We’ve got to get our perimeter shots through and get more rebounds. It was bad execution on our part.”

Kariya scored the Ducks’ only goal, his third in the last two games, and extended his point streak to 11 games--longest in the NHL this season.

Kariya’s team-leading 13th goal came with the Ducks on the power play at 8:32 of the second period, cutting Nashville’s lead to 2-1.

Nashville’s power play wasn’t particularly impressive either, but the second of Patric Kjellberg’s two goals came with Kariya in the penalty box for slashing Bob Boughner early in the third period.

“Our power play could have been the reason we lost the game,” Olausson said when told of Hartsburg’s comments. “It was probably the reason [Nashville] won.”

What was the problem?

“I think we forced it a little too much,” said Olausson, who assisted on Kariya’s goal. “If we get one on that five on three, it changes things. Instead, we’re chasing them from behind.”

True enough.

Kjellberg scored at 17:39 of the first period. Sebastien Bordeleau added a goal for the Predators only 22 seconds into the second. And Kjellberg put the game away with a shot from the slot that beat goaltender Dominic Roussel, making only his third start this season.

Kariya managed to squeeze a wrist shot from the slot past his old University of Maine teammate Mike Dunham at 8:32 of the second. But the Ducks did nothing much of significance the rest of the way, losing their second in a row and third in four games.

The Ducks have another chance Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes to get it right.

But before they play again, Hartsburg has something harsh in mind for today’s practice in Greensboro, N.C.

“I’ll have to do something [today] to wake ‘em up,” he groused.