Hartsburg Still Unhappy With Effort on Defense

The Ducks’ poor defensive play was the main topic of discussion for the second consecutive day. But Coach Craig Hartsburg was careful Monday not to pin the blame solely on his defensemen.

“It starts with our goaltending, then moves out to the defensemen and the forwards,” Hartsburg said. “We go in spurts. We play well, then we have a five-minute stretch where we get away from it.”

The Ducks have yet to meet Hartsburg’s demands for an aggressive forecheck combined with physical play in front of the net and in the corners.

“We’re not losing any points in the standings,” Hartsburg said of the Ducks’ 1-4 record going into Monday’s exhibition against the Kings. “But we want to see [in exhibitions] the way we’re going to play [in the regular season]. It’s tough to keep selling it that this is the way we’re going to play when we’re not winning any games.”

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A youthful line of Mike Leclerc, Josef Marha and Johan Davidsson started against the Kings. Youngsters Antti Aalto and Frank Banham also got plenty of ice time Monday. “We want to find out more about a couple of guys,” Hartsburg said.