Ducks Warming to the Moment

The Mighty Ducks had all sorts of reasons to stink up the Arrowhead Pond on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

A sunny winter day could have had their minds wandering anywhere but on the task at hand. A small crowd dropping by to watch an unattractive opponent could have resulted in very little energy in the building. And let’s not forget that the Ducks’ last three-game winning streak was in March.

After a shabby first period, the Ducks seemed doomed to failure. Instead of folding, they rallied to score twice in the first 2:33 of the second period and gave their new coach, Guy Charron, his second consecutive victory, 3-1, over Tampa Bay before an announced crowd of 11,207.

By game’s end, the only bit of bad news for the Ducks was the possibility that left wing Paul Kariya, the team’s leading scorer with 32 points, had suffered a broken right foot. X-rays were inconclusive and further tests are scheduled for today for Kariya, who was injured when a shot struck his foot in the second period.

Given a turbulent last few days that included Craig Hartsburg’s firing and Charron’s move from assistant to head coach, the Ducks seemed to handle Sunday’s challenge from the pesky Lightning well enough.

The Ducks were far from flawless, but they were winners for the third consecutive game and fourth in their last five. A victory Wednesday against the Atlanta Thrashers, the final game on this five-game home stand, would give the Ducks their first four-game winning streak in a year.

“We’re doing a lot of good things,” right wing Teemu Selanne said. “We’re trying to build our confidence. There’s a good feeling right now. The guys are starting to feel better about themselves. Hopefully, we don’t even think about streaks.”

The Ducks proved Sunday they could rally from a 1-0 first-period deficit, which hasn’t been as easy as it might seem. They went into the game with a 3-8-1-1 record when trailing after 20 minutes.

First, defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky sneaked from the left point to point-blank range, accepted a pass from behind the net from center Tony Hrkac and scored a power-play goal 1:55 into the second period.

“It’s a set play,” said Hrkac, who has five assists in his last three games. “Paul pulls the other defenseman out [to the right wing]. I can go to the net or find Teemu in front of the net. . . . I knew [Tverdovsky] was coming. I just had to find him.”

Thirty-eight seconds later, right wing Marty McInnis pounced on a long rebound to the right of Tampa Bay goalie Dan Cloutier and scored the go-ahead goal. McInnis’ shot struck the goal post and ricocheted off the skate of Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich before trickling into the back of the net for his second goal in as many games.

“It was kind of lucky,” said McInnis, who become the sixth Duck to record 20 points this season. “The rebound popped pretty far out there. I hit the post. It hit their guy. I thought I had an empty net. Luckily, their guy was there to boot it in for me.”

Like many of his teammates, McInnis had found luck in short supply recently. But he ended a 12-game goal-scoring drought with a power-play goal in the Ducks’ 6-4 victory Friday over the New York Rangers.

Sunday’s goal was McInnis’ 11th this season, but only his fifth since returning to the lineup after missing three games from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4 because of a sprained neck.

Strong penalty killing while Tampa Bay held a two-man advantage for 1:17 early in the final period helped ensure that McInnis’ goal would be the game-winner. Tampa Bay did not record a shot on Guy Hebert’s net while skating five on three.

The Lightning, which skated circles around the Kings en route to a 4-3 victory Saturday at Staples Center, had only six third-period shots and didn’t test Hebert often.

Tampa Bay center Vincent Lecavalier swept a point-blank shot at Hebert about six minutes into the final period, but the goalie confidently swatted the puck aside.

Hrkac sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute after swiping the puck from Lecavalier at the blue line.