Not Playing to the Crowd

Duck players were a tad shocked at the sparse crowd Wednesday night, although they were able to come up with reasons for the lowest turnout in team history.

An announced crowd of 13,963 at the Pond saw the Ducks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3, but far fewer were actually in attendance. An estimated 9,000-10,000 were in the building, as all season tickets--even no-shows--are counted toward the attendance.

“Hockey crowds know the teams that are coming in,” defenseman Fredrik Olausson said. “Tampa Bay’s record last year wasn’t too good.”

But some Ducks also looked in the mirror.

Said Goalie Guy Hebert, “It was a Wednesday night game, we had played a couple home games already, Tampa Bay didn’t have a great year last season.

“And . . . we didn’t have a good year ourselves. We have to show people we can play well and bring them back to the games.”

Tonight at Dallas

5:30 PST

Site--Reunion Arena.

Radio--XTRA (690).

Records--Ducks 3-3-1, Stars 5-1-1.

Record vs. Stars (1997-98)--1-3.

Update--This is the first time these teams will have met since they racked up 167 penalty minutes March 13 in a 6-3 Dallas victory--153 in the third period when Teemu Selanne was slammed into the glass by Star defenseman Craig Ludwig. That set off a free-for-all, which included Duck enforcer Brent Severyn pummeling Darryl Sydor into a bloody heap. “I haven’t thought anything about that,” Selanne said. “You forget about those things in hockey.” Apparently the Stars have, since they signed Severyn during the off-season. Joe Nieuwendyk, who missed six months after two surgeries on his right knee, returned to the Stars last week and scored the game-winning goal against San Jose Saturday.