Ducks’ Early Struggles Give Roy the Edge Over Hebert

The Mighty Ducks found themselves in a battle few teams wind up winning. Certainly, better teams than the Ducks have lost goaltenders’ duels against Patrick Roy.

The Ducks got one puck by Roy, but no more in a 2-1 loss Friday to the Colorado Avalanche before an announced crowd of 13,927 at the Arrowhead Pond.

Colorado managed to squeeze two pucks past Guy Hebert, who was terrific at times, but failed to come up with a slow roller through traffic early in the second period.

That’s the way it’s gone for the Ducks lately at the Pond, where smallish crowds lately have been witness to a six-game winless streak (0-4-2).

The Ducks created all sorts of chances in front Roy, but couldn’t defeat him. Friday’s victory was Roy’s 423rd, tying him with Tony Esposito for third on the NHL’s all-time list.

“It’s nice to reach a guy who’s had such a good career,” Roy said. “But it’s not my goal. I tried to focus on my game and give my team a chance to win every night.”

Chris Drury and Jeff Odgers, who had a slow-moving backhander that wound up being the game-winner, scored for Colorado. Ruslan Salei had the Duck goal, which cut the Avalanche lead to 2-1 late in the second period.

“We’ve got to do more early in the game, rather than wait to see how the game’s going to go,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “Once we woke up after being down by two goals we were fine. Early in the game, we’ve got to be more desperate. We have to win more battles.”

The Ducks went through a funk of about eight minutes, a stretch in which they couldn’t catch a break.

Late in the first period, defenseman Jason Marshall was whistled for a tripping penalty against, well, TV replays were unable to clear up the mystery.

It was impossible to pick out the Avalanche player he was alleged to have tripped.

The Ducks, who successfully killed 19 consecutive short-handed chances going into the game, then failed to clear the puck when they had a glorious chance to do so.

Stuff like that tends to come back to haunt, and it did so again.

Drury capped a goalmouth scramble by hitting the back of the net from point-blank range for a 1-0 Colorado lead at 18:46.

The Ducks pressed for the tying goal after Stephane Yelle went to the penalty box for holding Paul Kariya at 19:25. Colorado killed off the penalty, but Greg de Vries promptly cross-checked Matt Cullen as Yelle’s penalty ended.

More Duck pressure resulted in nothing Roy couldn’t handle with ease and the Avalanche’s lead held.

At the 4:20 mark of the second period, with the Avalanche back at full strength, Duck winger Jeff Nielsen hammered a one-timer off the crossbar.

Moments later, Odgers gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead at 5:44 with a changeup Hebert failed to notice trickling between his pads.

Odgers didn’t seem to believe it was possible he scored, chasing after the puck after it bounced out of the net and back in front of Hebert.

Hebert dropped to cover the puck, thinking it couldn’t have gone past him already.

But the fans’ groans and the goal judge’s red light indicated it was indeed a goal for Odgers, his first since Dec. 12, 1998.

“It was not a good goal,” Hartsburg said. “It’s unfortunate because [Hebert] made some great saves. We’ve got to find some ways to score goals like that one.”

The Ducks appeared to have taken control with some steady play to open the second period. But they fell behind by two goals and were facing a future Hall of Famer in Roy.

Instead of folding, the Ducks redoubled their efforts. The Ducks buzzed Roy’s net, hoping for a break. The pressure was intense, particularly on consecutive shifts that kept the puck in the Colorado zone for extended periods.

Finally, Salei whistled a shot from the left point through traffic and past Roy for his first goal of the season at 15:04 of the second.

It was Salei’s first point this season and his first goal since Jan. 1 against the Buffalo Sabres, part of a seven-goal outburst against Dominik Hasek.

Colorado played it safe and sane in the final period, pressing forward in search of a back-breaking goal only occasionally. The Avalanche played a rope-a-dope style, icing the puck repeatedly to thwart the Ducks.