Anaheim Skating on Thin Ice After Loss to Chicago

The Mighty Ducks had a healthy pulse there for, oh, about 38 seconds Wednesday night.

Paul Kariya worked his magic on a breakaway, lifting a backhander over helpless Chicago Blackhawk goalie Jocelyn Thibault to rally the Ducks into a third-period tie.

Then somebody named Jean-Yves Leroux shoved a dagger in the Ducks’ playoff hopes, slipping a weak flip from near the blue line past Guy Hebert for the go-ahead goal in the Blackhawks’ 5-2 victory.

Mathematically, the Ducks still have a chance, but Wednesday’s loss before an announced crowd of 15,112 at the United Center all but finished them.

The Ducks must win Friday against the Nashville Predators and Sunday against the Kings and hope the Edmonton Oilers lose Friday against the Vancouver Canucks and Saturday against the Calgary Flames.

What’s more, the Canucks must not win Sunday against the San Jose Sharks, who clinched a playoff spot with a 5-2 victory Wednesday over the Dallas Stars.

Good luck.

A victory Wednesday would have moved the Ducks within two points of the Oilers, who lost to the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2. But the Ducks failed to get the goaltending they needed.

If Leroux’s goal were the only long-distance lollipop Hebert gave up Wednesday, it might have been one thing.

But Kevin Dean also beat Hebert with a changeup from near the blue line, which gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead 5:32 into the second period.

The Ducks cut the deficit to 2-1 on Ruslan Salei’s goal less than a minute after Dean’s score.

Kariya tied the score, dashing in alone against Thibault after he eluded Dean to accept a breakout pass off the left-wing boards from Teemu Selanne 9:40 into the third period.

“I thought this is going to be our game and then, boom, it’s 3-2,” Selanne said. “They throw the puck at the net and it goes in.”

Hebert refused to speak to reporters after the game, so it was up to others to speak for him.

“You can’t score from there at this time of the year,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said, referring to the blue-line lobs Leroux and Dean tossed into the net.

“It’s frustrating because they’re scoring on what aren’t even scoring chances. If the guy was standing all by himself in front of the net, that’s different.”

Asked if Hebert, who has been bowled over by onrushing opponents several times this season, was fit for Wednesday’s game, Hartsburg said: “If he wasn’t 100%, he wouldn’t be in the net.”

Oleg Tverdovsky defended Hebert, saying, “We can’t blame Guy for anything. If not for him, we would have been losing, 5-0, in the first period. We didn’t help him a lot tonight.”

Hebert appeared to be screened on a first-period one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle and on the goals by Dean and Leroux.

But since he wasn’t talking to reporters after the game, there is no way to know for certain if he had a clear view of the shots.

Certainly, he failed to stop lumbering Chicago enforcer Bob Probert on a breakaway that gave the Blackhawks a 4-2 lead with 3:23 remaining. Tony Amonte added an empty-net goal with 1:06 left.

Unlike Hebert, Thibault made all the saves--routine and spectacular alike--when the Blackhawks needed them. Kariya had four shots on net and two others off the right goal post--one in the second period and another in the third.

Thibault also robbed Kariya with a glove save on a one-timer from the slot with the Ducks trailing, 3-2, with 3:42 left. Tverdovsky and Steve Rucchin mishandled a puck near the blue line moments later, Probert swiped it and raced ahead of the Ducks to score.

“Their goaltender and their goal posts were the difference,” Hartsburg said. “Paul Kariya had enough chances to win the game by himself. It’s pretty frustrating. You have to work a while and finally get a breakaway [for Kariya’s goal], and they come down and score on a wrister.”

The Ducks had several terrific scoring chances in the opening minutes, but Thibault denied them. Chicago’s Steve Sullivan then scored from the top of the left face-off circle with 5:13 left in the first.

“This was a game we had to have the first goal,” Selanne said.