Rucchin Not Getting a Sniff at Ice Time

Duck center Steve Rucchin couldn’t skate Wednesday morning, couldn’t play Wednesday night, missing his second consecutive game because of . . .

Well, he has a broken nose and a head cold, which is about as bad a combination as you can possibly imagine. And then he got whacked in the face Friday by San Jose’s Bryan Marchment.

The best guess is that Rucchin, the Ducks’ third-leading scorer with 22 goals and 56 points, will be fit to play Friday against the expansion Nashville Predators.

But the Ducks aren’t about to rush Rucchin back.

“He wasn’t ready to play [Wednesday],” Coach Craig Hartsburg said at the morning skate. “He’s feeling better, but we want to make sure he’s 100%. He’s still not 100%.”

Without Rucchin, Hartsburg stuck to the same lineup Wednesday against the Kings that subdued the Sharks, 4-1, Saturday at San Jose.

Center Travis Green played between wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne on the top line.

Center Matt Cullen played between Marty McInnis and Tomas Sandstrom, and they clicked for the game’s first goal Wednesday. Cullen scored on a cross-ice pass from Sandstrom at 8:21.

Jim McKenzie, Ted Drury and Jeff Nielsen formed the third line and Stu Grimson, Antti Aalto and Mike Leclerc formed the fourth line.