Selanne Clears a Big Hurdle

The best news for the Mighty Ducks was squeezing out a 2-2 tie with Nashville on Thursday. A close second was the condition of star winger Teemu Selanne.

Selanne, who had missed four of seven games because of a groin injury, skated free and easy. It was a radical improvement from the first time he tried to come back from the Dec. 10 injury.

“This is totally different,” Selanne said.

“I didn’t feel a thing out there. When I got back the first time, I couldn’t push off. Now I can start getting back to the way I want to play.”

Selanne has not scored in 13 games.

He got off five shots against the Predators.

“I hadn’t even practiced in five days, so I was rusty,” Selanne said.

“But it was nice to take a stride without worrying whether it was going to hurt.

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Coach Guy Charron continues to work off a lengthy to-do list, trying to fix the Ducks.

The latest item is early penalties. And to make his point, Charron made right wing Jim Cummins a healthy scratch, the second consecutive game he has sat out.

The Ducks gave up one first period power-play goal in a 2-1 loss to Detroit on Dec. 22 in a 2-1 overtime loss and two Saturday in a 5-2 loss to St. Louis.

The Ducks were fourth-worst in penalty killing before Thursday’s game against Nashville.

“We can’t allow teams to build momentum,” Charron said. “We can’t be spending five, six, seven minutes killing penalties in the first period.”

Cummins, who began Thursday’s game seventh in the NHL with 108 penalty minutes, has had his share of unnecessary penalties this season.

So he sat.

“I’m not trying to single Jim out,” Charron said. “But he plays a certain style and we can’t afford to be killing so many penalties.”