Inconsistent Ducks Break Even

Well, it certainly was exciting hockey.

Good hockey? Well, that’s open to debate.

The Mighty Ducks and Vancouver Canucks proved during a 4-4 tie Wednesday that you don’t have to be a Stanley Cup contender to play entertaining hockey.

Of course, it also made for another head-scratching evening for an announced crowd of 12,682 at the Arrowhead Pond, who should have long ago grown accustomed to such wild swings of momentum.

After 62 games, nothing should surprise Duck fans at this point.

Somehow, some way, the 10th-place Ducks managed to move within four points of the eighth-place San Jose Sharks in the battle for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Perhaps the Ducks’ only saving grace is that the Sharks can’t beat their way out of a wet paper bag at the moment. The Sharks are 3-8-2 since defeating the Ducks, 4-3, on Jan. 22. The Ducks are 5-3-4 in their last 12 games.

The Ducks were good, bad and ugly at various times Wednesday. They scored a season-high three power-play goals. They also missed the steadying influence of captain Paul Kariya, who was sidelined for a second straight game because of a bruised right foot.

But the Ducks got a strong game from energetic winger Ladislav Kohn, whose second-period goal lifted them into a 4-4 tie.

Oleg Tverdovsky tied his career high with his 10th goal of the season. Teemu Selanne scored one goal and assisted on two others, playing what Coach Craig Hartsburg called “probably his best game of the season. He kept pushing, pushing, pushing all night. With Paul out, Teemu showed what a great player he is.”

Of Kohn, Hartsburg said, “He was a force every time he was on the ice. He’s a real character kid. You need those kinds of guys at this time of the year.”

So much for the positives.

The Ducks let a two-goal lead slip away for the fourth time in six games. They led, 2-0, on power-play goals by Tverdovsky and Selanne only 8:36 into the game.

Instead of increasing their pressure, the Ducks backed off, as has become their custom lately.

Vancouver--playing its first game since Donald Brashear was slashed in the head Monday by Boston’s Marty McSorley--rallied with goals from Mark Messier (power play) and Darby Hendrickson.

The Canucks then took a 3-2 lead 1:48 into the second period on Markus Naslund’s 19th goal of the season.

Steve Rucchin countered for the Ducks at 3:04 of the second period, swatting a point-blank try behind goalie Felix Potvin. Matt Cooke gave Vancouver a 4-3 lead at 9:34.

But Kohn bailed out the Ducks, hustling after a rebound of his shot from a sharp angle on the left wing to score his first goal since Jan. 14 against the St. Louis Blues.

Kohn took advantage of defenseman Murray Baron’s basketball-style box-out of Rucchin near the left goal post and slipped the puck beneath Potvin for a 4-4 tie at 15:43. Baron was so focused on keeping Rucchin out of the picture that Kohn had what amounted to a breakaway.

The teams traded scoring chances in the third period and during the five-minute overtime, but could not break the deadlock.

Dominic Roussel stopped Naslund on a breakaway 4:20 into the third period. Tverdovsky failed to capitalize on an overtime breakaway because a bouncing puck on the Pond’s notoriously poor ice rolled off his stick.

In the end, the Ducks were left to ponder another missed opportunity.

“When we have a 2-0 lead, we have to build on it,” Tverdovsky said. “We can’t protect leads right now and that’s killing us. We’re trying to score more goals when we have to play more patiently when we get the lead.”

Squandering two-goal leads has been routine stuff for the Ducks.

Twice in the last two weeks, the Ducks had blown two-goal leads en route to losses against the Blues. The Ducks also let a 3-1 lead slip away Friday and were tied by the Sharks, 4-4.