Ducks Take Lead, Then Get Flattened

The Mighty Ducks were at their confounding best Saturday night. For a time, they were luckier, more persistent and two goals better than the St. Louis Blues.

But--and doesn’t there always seem to be a “but” or a “however” when the Ducks are involved?--they collapsed in a heap en route to a dispiriting 6-3 loss.

A crowd of 20,216 at the Kiel Center watched the Ducks fall apart at the seams after taking a 3-1 lead. Pavol Demitra scored three times and Bryan Helmer and Jamal Mayers added power-play and empty-net goals for the scalding Blues in the final 24:42.

St. Louis, which has won seven of eight, erased the 3-1 deficit by buzzing around the Duck net, taking advantage of anything and everything available.

First, Demitra ripped a slap shot through traffic to get the Blues to within 3-2 with 4:42 left in the second period. Next, he tied it, 3-3, by pouncing on an errant centering pass and whistling a quick shot past Guy Hebert at 2:07 of the third.

Helmer then gave the Blues the lead for good, 4-3, by hustling into the high slot to send a slapper past Hebert for a power-play goal at 10:47. Demitra scored on a goal-mouth scramble to complete his first NHL hat trick at 12:49. Mayers scored into an empty net in the final minute.

“Up 3-1, we should have been a lot more desperate,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “St. Louis outworked us. Give them credit, but we have to be better.”

St. Louis, the Western Conference leaders, seemed to be just the team to get the Ducks’ attention. So often, the Ducks have played league powers tough. It’s the stiffs that have given them trouble.

However, the Ducks came out flat against the Blues, failing to record a shot until Kip Miller put a backhander from the slot past Roman Turek at 10:21 of the first period.

Paul Kariya then scored twice--at 13:36 of the first and 10:59 of the second--and the Ducks had a lead that should have energized them. They backed off instead.

“When you get a two-goal lead on the road, everybody should work twice as hard,” Hartsburg said. “We went the opposite way. We kept talking [on the bench] about winning the next shift.”

Didn’t happen.

Instead of edging within three points of the Kings for the eighth and final playoff position in the West, the 10th-place Ducks trail by five points. Time is short. Only 25 games remain.

Certainly, the Ducks have made a habit of rallying into contention with superb play in the final weeks of recent seasons. And they showed signs of building momentum for the stretch run with a 3-0-2 unbeaten streak.

Losses to the Dallas Stars and the Blues ended talk of rejoining the playoff scramble, however. The Ducks spoke of regaining their intensity Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“When you get breaks like we did, you’ve got to battle harder and we didn’t,” Kariya said. “We were horrible. . . . It’s inexcusable to play that way on the road. . . . Tonight, a lot of guys have to look at themselves in the mirror.

“[But] we’ve got to get ready for Chicago. There isn’t time to sulk.”

As ever, Kariya and Selanne seemed determined to haul the Ducks around the rink on their backs. Fourteen of Kariya’s team-leading 34 goals have come during the last 11 games. Selanne has seven goals and 11 assists during a 10-game point streak.

Miller’s power-play goal seemed to be just the thing to get the rest of the Ducks involved. Kariya then worked a pretty give-and-go play with Selanne, flicking the puck over Turek’s shoulder as he was leveled by Ricard Persson’s check.

Next, Kariya banked a centering pass off defenseman Chris Pronger and Turek for the power-play goal that gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead.

Amazingly enough, the Ducks promptly went flat and surrendered their lead to the opportunistic Blues.

“We’ve got to pull our socks up before this goes any further,” Hartsburg said, referring to the Ducks’ two-game losing streak. “We’re in a real battle here.”