Ducks Playing Like Their Season Is Over

The Mighty Ducks finished their sixth NHL regular season by squandering a three-goal lead en route to a 3-3 tie here Saturday against the troublesome San Jose Sharks, another sign of their recent struggles.

After all, the Ducks are but 2-5-2 so far in April. They enter the postseason with a three-game winless streak. They must also face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in the opening round of the playoffs later this week.

However, and it’s a noteworthy however, the Ducks proved over the course of 82 games they are no longer the civic disgrace they were by the end of last season.

“There were about four or five of us [injured players] watching last year’s final game against St. Louis in a suite at the Pond,” goalie Guy Hebert recalled at the morning skate Saturday at San Jose Arena.

“There was me, Paul [Kariya], Teemu [Selanne] and some friends of theirs and Swede [Tomas Sandstrom] and we didn’t recognize who was on the ice for our last game.

“I think we were all concerned. It wasn’t a happy time. There were so many trades. There didn’t seem to be any direction. There was definitely tension.”

The summer of 1998 brought sweeping changes from top to bottom in the Duck organization.

“They kind of had to do an overhaul,” said Hebert said. “I think it’s worked. It’s taken a while, but it’s worked.”

Pierre Gauthier replaced Jack Ferreira as general manager, Craig Hartsburg replaced Pierre Page as coach and Hebert, Kariya, Selanne and Sandstrom have been fit for most of the 1998-99 season.

The Ducks’ tie Saturday gave them a 35-34-13 record, their second winning record in their team history. They were 36-33-13 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual champion Red Wings two years ago.

At game’s end, Selanne failed to add to his NHL-leading total of 47 goals, but he had two assists to push his final point total to 107. Kariya scored his 39th goal and added an assist for his 101st point. They are league’s second- and third-leading scorers going into the final day of the regular season.

Next up: the playoffs.

Dates and times of the best-of-seven series will be announced today, but Game 1 is expected to be Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Ducks’ preparations began Saturday.

Coach Craig Hartsburg spent the afternoon watching videotapes of the Red Wings. He also did his best to fake out a pair of Red Wing scouts who attended the Duck-Shark game, shuffling his lines and defense pairings.

Instead of giving Kariya and Selanne the bulk of the playing time, Hartsburg spread the shifts around. Enforcers Stu Grimson and Jim McKenzie got plenty of ice time.

Backup goalie Dominic Roussel started his second consecutive game in place of No. 1 starter Guy Hebert, who also didn’t play in Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss against the Kings.

“This is the best time of the year for everybody,” Hartsburg said. “It’s very intense. It’s a lot of fun. It’s hockey at it’s best.”

The Ducks seemed content to skate up and down Saturday against the Sharks and did so efficiently in building a 3-0 lead early in the second period. McKenzie, Kariya and Sandstrom scored for the Ducks.

But the Sharks countered with second-period goals from Alexander Korolyuk and Joe Murphy to trim the Duck lead to 3-2 at the 12:14 mark. San Jose also decided it was time to start hitting the Ducks, and the game turned chippy.