Sharks Sink Teeth Into Ducks, 4-1

By ELLIOTT TEAFORD

April 10, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

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 into stands early in the second period.

Could there possibly have been a more perfect metaphor for the Ducks’ sudden and dramatic fall from among the NHL’s hottest teams?

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.

Think it can’t get any worse than that?

Stick around a while.

If the Ducks play in the same listless manner they have been, they’ll 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.

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 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.

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 is 9-0-2 in his last 11 starts.

Shields stopped Duck captain Paul 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. Kariya had the best chance for either team to break the deadlock in the second period.

But Shields gloved Kariya’s point-blank shot at the 8:48 mark.

The Ducks came out firing the puck to start the game, a radical departure from their method of operation that led to a 1-3-1 record on a trip to play the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars.

The Ducks had eight shots against Shields before the Sharks had two against Guy Hebert.

But defenseman Ruslan Salei took a slashing penalty at 8:32 of the first period and any momentum the Ducks had soon fizzled. San Jose failed to score on their power-play chance, but gained valuable confidence.

Later, defenseman Fredrik Olausson was penalized for tripping San Jose’s Alexander Korolyuk at 16:52 of the first.

A glance at the replay indicated Korolyuk did a masterful job of making it look good for referee Bill McCreary. Korolyuk’s deception was rewarded at 18:22, when he tapped a cross-ice pass from Murphy past Hebert for a 1-0 San Jose lead.

Sandstrom’s goal gave the Ducks some life, but it was all too brief.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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:

TeamPts

1. Dallas: 110

2. Colorado: 94

3. Detroit: 91

4. Phoenix: 88

5. St. Louis: 81

6. DUCKS: 80

7. San Jose: 79