Tverdovsky’s Move Nothing New

Mighty Duck defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky slid unnoticed toward the net against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, took a pass from Tony Hrkac and chipped the puck into the net. His power-play goal tied the score, 1-1, and looked vaguely familiar.

The backdoor move was one that defenseman Fredrik Olausson had down to perfection when he was here. He is playing in Switzerland, but the Ducks dusted off his best power-play move.

“We haven’t been using that play a whole lot this year,” said Tverdovsky, who has six goals, four on the power play. “We talked about that before the game [Sunday]. It works.”

It did often for the veteran Olausson. He led Duck defensemen with eight power-play goals last season and 10 in 1998-99.

His loss hurt the Ducks more on the power play than anywhere else. The Ducks have been inconsistent with a manpower advantage this season. They rank in the middle of the league at 17%.

Anaheim was one for 35 during one eight-game stretch but then went seven consecutive games with at least one power-play goal.

Tverdovsky’s backdoor move made the Ducks five for 30 in their last five games.

“We have gotten away from some stuff we need to do,” Tverdovsky said. “You have to start from the top and get the penalty killers high. Then you get some room down low.

“Tony [Hrkac] had two options there [Sunday]. Teemu [Selanne] in the slot and me coming to the goal.”

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The six lowest announced crowds in team history have all occurred this season, one of them Sunday’s crowd of 11,207, third smallest.

The Ducks drew 11,134 for a game against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 8 and 11,167 against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 11.

The Ducks sold out 90 of 93 games from December 1993 until October 1996. The team had 190 consecutive games with announced crowds of more than 15,000, from its inception in 1993-94 until Oct. 28, 1998, when officials announced 13,963 for a game against Tampa Bay.

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Paul Kariya couldn’t quite handle a pass from Selanne in front of the net during the third period Sunday. The puck bounced off Kariya’s stick, depriving him of a wide-open, point-blank shot.

“I think Paul needs to attend my hockey camp next summer,” Selanne joked.

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With Kariya sidelined at least two weeks because of a broken foot, the Ducks recalled forward Petr Tenkrat from Cincinnati, their minor-league affiliate. Tenkrat had been demoted Saturday and had flown the red-eye back to Cincinnati, where he assisted on the game-winning goal Sunday. He was back on a plane for Anaheim on Monday.