Team Is Losing Race Against Time

The new year is still days away, but the Mighty Ducks can feel time slipping away.

Moments like Thursday’s 2-2 tie with Nashville, in which the Ducks rallied twice to earn a point on the road, are nice. But picking up a point here and a point there will not get the Ducks to the playoffs.

The Ducks are 5-6-1-1 in December, but have collected only two points--the Nashville tie and a 2-1 overtime loss to Detroit--in the last two weeks. The Ducks are 11th in the Western Conference standings, seven points behind the Kings, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We are desperate for points,” defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “We have to get some wins. We haven’t won a game in a long time.”

Since Dec. 17 in fact, when they beat Tampa Bay, 3-1. Which brings the Ducks to Sunday’s game against Minnesota. The Ducks are 2-0 against the expansion Wild this season.

“That’s a huge game for us,” Tverdovsky said. “We have to catch up now. We don’t want to be in a situation where we have to try to catch up in the last 15 games, like last season. There might not be enough time then. It’s better to do it now than be too late.”

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The Ducks are lacking offensive threats, a point made clear when penalty-killing specialist Dan Bylsma had a team-high four shots against Dallas on Wednesday. So more big moments from Petr Tenkrat, who scored the game-tying goal against Nashville on Thursday, would help.

Tenkrat has three goals and six points in seven games since being called up from minor league Cincinnati on Dec. 17. He burst down the right side Thursday, beating Predator goalie Mike Dunham with a shot from a difficult angle.

“He is one of the more powerful skaters I’ve ever seen,” Duck center Matt Cullen said. “He gets faster with every stride he takes. Some guys have a knack for scoring goals.”

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The Ducks reassigned center Marc Chouinard to Cincinnati, which could signal the return of center Steve Rucchin, who has skated with the team this week. Rucchin has missed 24 of 40 games this season because of various injuries.