Only Thing Ducks Maintain Is a Tie

The Mighty Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers seemed to be mirror images of each other Wednesday night at the Arrowhead Pond. Well, except for the part about the Ducks being faster and the Flyers being bigger.

Certainly both teams had to fight the same bugaboos, none more noteworthy than another early-season battle against short attention-span hockey.

The Ducks and Flyers had their moments, particularly during a frenetic second period that had the announced crowd of 13,898 roaring. But neither team could shed the other by game’s end and a 3-3 tie seemed fitting.

The teams failed to sustain the end-to-end action of the second period in the third period, and the game went to overtime. Each team picked up a point for forcing overtime.

In the five-minute extra period, the Ducks had the better of the exchanges under the NHL’s new four-on-four overtime format. But neither team could break the deadlock and each team has a 6-6-2-1 record this morning.

Mark Recchi had the Flyers’ best chance, cruising in for a backhander on a three-on-two break. But Duck goalie Dominic Roussel saved his best stop of the night for the last of 33 shots he faced, smothering the try with 27 seconds left.

Moments earlier, Duck winger Marty McInnis set up defenseman Ruslan Salei for a quick shot at the left post. But Salei didn’t get the one-timer on net, setting up Recchi’s chance at the other end.

The Flyers outshot the Ducks, 33-21.

Unlike Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Phoenix, the Ducks came out with a sense of purpose against the Flyers. That purpose was to play with emotion, which was so sadly lacking against the Coyotes.

The Ducks handled the puck well enough and actually shot it on the Flyer net. They also threw a couple of checks and seemed to be skating on ice rather than through quicksand.

Still, they had nothing to show for their newfound aggression after one period.

The Ducks also had a big, fat zero on the scoreboard 1:13 into the second period. The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on the first of John LeClair’s two second-period power-play goals.

It didn’t last.

Sixty-two seconds later, the Ducks tied the score with a power-play goal of their own, Paul Kariya whistling a low shot off the stick of Philadelphia’s Valeri Zelepukin and past John Vanbiesbrouck.

Fredrik Olausson and Teemu Selanne then scored to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead at 14:45.

The Duck lead didn’t last either.

Philadelphia defenseman Eric Desjardins put a bouncing shot from the right point through the legs of Roussel, who was starting in place of Guy Hebert, at the 17:14 mark.

All things considered, a 3-2 lead going into the third period was probably just the boost the Ducks could have used.

But then defenseman Jason Marshall tripped Philadelphia’s Eric Lindros, playing again after missing two games because of a virus, in the fading seconds of the period.

Duck center Steve Rucchin won the ensuing faceoff, which was to the right of Roussel.

Lindros outmuscled a Duck to the puck and directed it on net. LeClair then outmuscled Oleg Tverdovsky near the goal post and pushed the puck behind Roussel with five seconds left in the period.

That’s the way it has been this season for the Ducks, who continue to lose their focus long enough to squander leads and lose momentum. It has been a rare night when the Ducks have played 60 minutes with unwavering intensity this season.

Sensing the Ducks needed a change after their flat showing Sunday, Coach Craig Hartsburg reunited the Rucchin-Kariya-Selanne line and moved center Matt Cullen from the first line to the third Wednesday.

Hartsburg also decided Roussel should start against his former team. Hartsburg said the move had nothing to do with the play of Hebert, who is 4-6-1 with a 2.68 goals-against average but hasn’t yet hit his stride.

Hartsburg said he believed Roussel, 2-0 with a 1.15 goals-against average in three appearances, had earned another start.