Sharks Sink Teeth Into Ducks, 4-1

There were bad omens all around the Arrowhead Pond on Friday, but none worse than the Mighty Duck blimp springing a leak, losing altitude as it deflated and crash-landed in the stands early in the second period.

Could there possibly have been a more perfect metaphor for the Ducks’ sudden and dramatic fall from the ranks of the NHL’s hottest teams? Only if it hit an iceberg.

The Ducks then followed the airship’s downward spiral with a miserable third-period performance en route to a 4-1 loss to the hard-working San Jose Sharks before an announced sellout crowd of 17,174.

“It’s awful,” team captain Paul Kariya said when asked if he was disappointed in the team’s showing. “We didn’t do what we talked about. We didn’t work. We didn’t play the systems right. You can’t win like this. You can’t play like this and expect to win in the playoffs.”

If the Ducks play in the same listless manner they have been, they will probably be swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in four games. It doesn’t matter if they play the Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings or Phoenix Coyotes in the first round.

The Ducks probably would fare far better against the Coyotes than against the Avalanche or the Red Wings. But in order to meet Phoenix in the first round, the Ducks must finish in fifth place in the Western Conference.

Given their three-game losing streak and 1-4-1 record in their last six, the Ducks would seem to be incapable of winning another game in 1998-99, however.

With four games left in the regular season, the Ducks are a point behind the fifth-place St. Louis Blues and a point ahead of the seventh-place Sharks.

The Ducks get another crack at halting their slide on Sunday against the Coyotes at the Pond. If playing Phoenix doesn’t fire them up, the Ducks might as well head straight for the golf course because the playoffs figure to be an exercise in futility.

“Everybody has got to give each other a kick in the ass and get going,” Kariya said. “We have to get things in gear. You play soft and cheat for scoring chances in the playoffs and teams are going to kill you.”

The Ducks’ shortcomings Friday were the same as in a 5-1 defeat Wednesday against the Dallas Stars, but Coach Craig Hartsburg tried a different postgame approach.

Unlike Wednesday, Hartsburg spoke to reporters and did his best to sound upbeat as he talked about the Ducks’ chances for a turnaround in the final week of the regular season.

“We’ve got lots of work next week to get back on track, and we will,” Hartsburg said. “We’ve got to get back to playing a better team game. We’ve got a week to work on it. It can come back quickly.

“We didn’t play with much energy [Friday]. The only way I know energy comes is you look at yourself in the mirror and work your butt off. If you work hard, you feel good about yourself.”

The Ducks had plenty of chances to snap out of their funk Friday against the Sharks. But they couldn’t put more than one puck past San Jose goalie Steve Shields, who improved to 9-0-2 in his last 11 starts.

Shields stopped Kariya on a breakaway only 1:28 into the third period. A goal there would have given the Ducks a 2-1 lead and some much-needed momentum.

But Shields made a sprawling glove save.

Less than a minute later, Jeff Friesen scored for the Sharks. Owen Nolan and Joe Murphy added third-period goals for the Sharks and the Ducks were history.

San Jose appeared to have the Ducks on the run after taking a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

But the Sharks couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and paid the price when winger Tomas Sandstrom scored while the Ducks held a two-man advantage at the 8:19 mark of the second period.

Despite controlling play for long portions of the second period, the Ducks could not score the go-ahead goal and the teams went to the third period tied, 1-1.

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PLAYOFF RACE

If the season ended today, this would be the order of finish in the Western Conference. Playoff pairings are 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5:

Team: Pts

1. Dallas: .110

2. Colorado: .94

3. Detroit: .91

4. Phoenix: .88

5. St. Louis: .81

6. DUCKS: .80

7. San Jose: .79

8. Edmonton: .71