Mixed Reviews for Ducks

The Mighty Ducks traded punches and actually won a few fights with the heretofore mightier Kings during their exhibition game Tuesday at the Forum.

That’s an encouraging sign for Duck management, which toughened up the lineup by trading for enforcers Stu Grimson and Jim McKenzie during the off-season.

However, the Duck defense got mauled in an 8-3 loss to the Kings in front of a crowd of 5,203. That’s not encouraging for management, which failed to land a bruising defenseman through free agency during the off-season.

Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg did not dress his top offensive threats Tuesday, including the No. 1 line of Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selanne. But with the exception of Fredrik Olausson, Hartsburg did play his top defensemen.

After a solid start in front of goaltender Patrick Lalime, the defense got steamrollered during the Kings’ five-goal second period.

“It was terrible, a terrible game,” Hartsburg said. “You can look at all kinds of X’s and O’s, but we didn’t win enough battles. We made all kinds of mistakes because we didn’t win enough one-on-one battles.”

Luc Robitaille had three goals and two assists and Rob Blake scored one goal and had two assists for the Kings (2-1). Travis Green had two goals for the Ducks (1-2).