New-Look Lineup Shown to Canucks

The Ducks had a different look when they faced off Saturday against the struggling Vancouver Canucks.

Center Steve Rucchin wore a visor to protect his broken nose, suffered in Friday’s 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames. But that was only the start of the changes.

Rucchin also had a new linemate as Coach Craig Hartsburg shuffled the deck dramatically for the first time since a 3-0 victory Feb. 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Ducks had won six of nine going into Saturday’s game, but Hartsburg was displeased by Friday’s loss and a 6-2 defeat last Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.

“We didn’t work and that’s why we lost the last two,” Hartsburg said after the Calgary game. “We give [the opposition] two or three whacks at the puck around the net.”

Hartsburg also was critical of some of the Ducks’ players, but did not name names. He did praise the Jim McKenzie-Ted Drury-Jeff Nielsen line for injecting a bit of life into the Ducks, however.

“I don’t have any beefs with those guys, I’ll tell you that,” Hartsburg said. “They know that’s their job [to play aggressively]. We need more players as committed to the team game as they are.”

The McKenzie-Drury-Nielsen line was the only one Hartsburg left intact for Saturday’s game.

Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne skated with center Marty McInnis, Rucchin played on a line with Tomas Sandstrom and Travis Green, and Stu Grimson, Matt Cullen and Antti Aalto formed the fourth line.

Cullen had spent the previous nine games centering the Kariya-Selanne line, but was ineffective Friday against Calgary and demoted Saturday against Vancouver. Green had been skating with the fourth line, but moved up to the second.

“We didn’t play well defensively,” Kariya said of his line. “We didn’t come back well [to play defense]. When we’re a minus three [on the ice for three goals against] that’s ridiculous. That shouldn’t happen.”

That all changed, obviously, in the Ducks’ 5-1 victory over the Canucks.