Ducks Play Well, but Roy Is Better

Training camp came to a merciful end here Monday night.

The result wasn’t quite what the Mighty Ducks were after in their eighth and final exhibition, but it was difficult to find fault with their game against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Ducks looked as ready for the regular-season opener Saturday at Dallas as they could possibly be.

Only a masterful goaltending performance by Colorado’s Patrick Roy and a world-class shot on the game-winning goal by Milan Hejduk enabled the Avalanche to escape with a 3-2 victory.

“It was the best game we’ve played in all of training camp,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “So that’s a good sign. I can’t complain at all about how we played. We were assertive and aggressive.”

The Ducks simply couldn’t push more than two pucks past Roy, who made 42 saves in his second exhibition start since undergoing minor hip surgery this month.

Centers Steve Rucchin and Matt Cullen scored for the Ducks (3-4-1 in exhibition play). Joe Sakic, Chris Dingman and Hejduk, who whistled the puck over Dominic Roussel’s left shoulder at 9:13 of the final period, had the Avalanche goals.

The Ducks pressed for the game-tying goal in the final minutes, but couldn’t produce the equalizer. Rucchin swatted a rebound past Roy, but it came a moment after the final buzzer.

“The way we played tonight is the way we want to play this season,” Hartsburg said. “The game in Phoenix [a 4-3 victory Saturday] we played with grit and chemistry. We did it again tonight. We probably deserved a better fate.”

On another night, against another opponent, the Ducks’ persistent attack and their steady defensive play might have led to a victory.

But a five-minute lapse midway through the third period gave Colorado the opening it needed. Dingman scored following a goal-mouth scramble at 8:29, then Hejduk produced the game-winner 44 seconds later.

“Their guy came up with an unbelievable shot to win it,” said Guy Hebert, who played the first two periods before giving way to Roussel to start the third.

“We had a lot of pressure, a lot of shots,” Hartsburg said. “We did a lot of good things for 55 minutes. But we fell asleep for five minutes. It was unfortunate that we had that lapse, but you have to look at all the positives.”

As an added bonus, team captain Paul Kariya skated Monday morning for the first time in more than a week. Kariya, sidelined for all eight exhibitions because of a sore left hip, hasn’t ruled out playing Saturday against Dallas.