Defensive Style Keys Recent Surge

Duck wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne at times show flashes of offensive magic that remind many of the freewheeling days of the 1980s and early ‘90s, when scores were often 8-6 or 6-4.

But the Ducks have gone 3-1-1 in their last five games by playing the same grinding defensive style currently in vogue around the NHL. The Ducks haven’t scored much, but they haven’t given up many goals either.

“You’ve got to grind it out along the boards,” said winger Jim McKenzie, whose game is better suited to physical play in the corners than racing up and down the ice.

Added goalie Guy Hebert: “Right now, if this is the way we have to play to win that’s what we’ll do. . . . The last two games were two of our best performances.”

The Ducks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-1, on Saturday and tied the Kings, 1-1, on Friday.

“It certainly wasn’t perfect or pretty,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said of the victory over the Coyotes, which pushed the Ducks over the .500 mark at 13-12-3-1. “We were a tired team, but we played with character and grit.”

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McKenzie’s goal Saturday was his first of the season and came in only his second game back in the lineup after he was sidelined for almost a month because of a broken left hand.

“If this keeps up, I’ll have to break the other one in the summer,” joked McKenzie, who has only 35 goals in his 11-season career.

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The Ducks’ power-play unit is 0 for 25 in the last seven games and has an overall success rate of 9.8% (nine for 92)--leading only the New York Rangers, who are last in the NHL with a 7.8% conversion rate.

However, the Ducks’ penalty-killing unit has vaulted from the league’s cellar by killing off 16 consecutive short-handed situations to improve to a 78.7% overall success rate.

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Expect to see Dominic Roussel in goal in the next week or so. Hebert has made nine consecutive starts since Roussel was in goal for a 6-3 loss Nov. 15 against the Detroit Red Wings. Hebert is 8-6-1 in his last 15 starts and 11-11-2 overall. Roussel is 2-1-1 in five appearances.

The Ducks play host to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche on Friday and the expansion Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday.