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Team Tries to Solve Shooting Woes

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The Ducks have outshot the opposition by a whopping 257-195 in their last eight games. They have been outshot only twice in the last eight games.

So why aren’t they better than 2-4-1-1 in that stretch?

“We’re making the other team’s goalie into the hero too many times,” right wing Teemu Selanne said flatly.

Call it a lack of confidence or a lack of skill, but the Ducks have been pouring shots into the midsections of opposing goalies far too often. How else can you explain the opposition’s 23-17 edge in goals over the last eight games?

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“It’s frustrating when you can’t score when you have so many opportunities,” Selanne said. “I think our whole team is in the middle of a slump right now.”

For instance, Selanne has been held scoreless in four consecutive games.

Left wing Paul Kariya had a goal and an assist in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks, his first multiple-point game since scoring a goal and an assist in a 6-3 victory Oct. 29 against the Calgary Flames.

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For what it’s worth, the Ducks are better off this season without top-line center Steve Rucchin than they were without him last season.

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When Rucchin missed 11 games last season because of an infected leg, the Ducks went 2-7-2 and dropped from among the top eight in the Western Conference last January. They are 5-5-1-1 this season without Rucchin, who missed the season’s first six games because of a broken left hand and has been sidelined for the last seven games because of a broken nose and cheekbone.

Rucchin hasn’t been ruled out for a return to the lineup Sunday against the Kings at the Arrowhead Pond, though. He skated with teammates Monday through Thursday, increasing his intensity each day.

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For what it’s worth (Part II): The Ducks’ 2-9-3-1 record over the last 15 games is their worst such stretch in the franchise’s eight-season history. The Ducks previously never had won fewer than three games over a span of 15.

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The Ducks did not practice Friday, but will today as Coach Craig Hartsburg hopes to better gauge the progress of Rucchin and goalie Guy Hebert, who has a sore left shoulder.

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