Even They Agree Their Power Play Is Sickening

The Ducks worked on their woeful power play during Sunday’s practice, but all it did was make captain Paul Kariya sick and Coach Craig Hartsburg angry.

Kariya dropped to his knees at one point and almost vomited. He said later that he wasn’t ill, but didn’t want to talk about it because it made him queasy.

Hartsburg had plenty to say after a lackluster practice. He hoped a solid workout would help improve the Duck power play, which ranks last in the NHL with a 4.8% conversion rate (one goal in 21 opportunities).

“I’m not very happy at all,” Hartsburg said. “I’m not going to put up with it. The guys have to come here to work. Or they’ll not be here at all. We’ve made some strides. I’m not disappointed. But when we have a practice like today it shows we’re not there yet.”

Kariya’s line, which is the team’s top power-play unit, upset Hartsburg most of all Sunday.

“We worked on it,” Hartsburg said of the power play. “It didn’t look very good. Aw, I shouldn’t say that. The [Travis] Green-[Tomas] Sandstrom-[Johan] Davidsson line scored three or four goals on it. They worked hard and paid the price and that’s why they scored. It’s pretty simple. [The Kariya-Steve Rucchin-Teemu Selanne line] has to work a lot harder on it.”

Asked if he believed the top line was simply trying to be too fancy, Hartsburg said, “You could say that. The thing is they’ve got to work. You’re not going to score too many tick-tack-toe goals on the power play. With the way penalty-killing is today, you have to work to get second and third chances.”

Selanne certainly didn’t dodge the issue when told of Hartsburg’s comments.

“He’s right,” Selanne said. “We should feel ashamed. It won’t happen again. The No. 1 rule when you want to get better is you have to be honest.”

The Ducks have one day before Wednesday’s home opener against the Boston Bruins to get it right. They will not practice today because of a charity golf event, but are expected to work on the power play again Tuesday.

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Center Josef Marha, who sprained his right ankle Oct. 10 against the Washington Capitals, skated lightly for the second consecutive day. But he still isn’t fit to play in a game or practice with teammates.