Ducks Keep Heading Down

The Mighty Ducks, and their coach, kept saying that things were not as dark as they seemed. They have played well, really.

But no matter how many times they break into the-sun-will-come-out-tomorrow theme, the scoreboard keeps flashing the only indisputable fact.

Monday: Buffalo Sabres 5, Ducks 0.

You can bet your bottom dollar that their tune has changed.

“After trying to be positive and trying all those things, this is certainly a backward step,” Coach Craig Hartsburg said.

Or two.

Listless play, boneheaded gaffes and a nonexistent offensive attack left the Ducks with a 1-8-1 record over their last 10 games.

Now what?

“There were a lot of positive things being done the last three games,” Hartsburg said. “A lot of positive things were said. We were trying to stay on the positive side. But that was a pretty embarrassing effort by our hockey team.”

How bad was it?

The Sabres, who have the worst power play in the league, scored a power-play goal.

How bad was it?

The Ducks had 10 shots through two periods.

How bad was it?

An announced crowd of 13,617 at the Arrowhead Pond couldn’t even bring itself to boo down the “Let’s Go Buffalo” chants from the few Sabre fans in attendance.

How bad was it?

The Ducks recalled left wing Maxim Balmochnykh and defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski immediately after the game.

True, the Sabres are defending Eastern Conference champions, but that was last season.

Still, rookie goalie Martin Biron picked up his fourth shutout, even if he barely worked up a sweat stopping the Ducks’ season-low 17 shots. Buffalo’s three-goal second period was more than enough offense.

Thus the Sabres moved into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings, even though they aren’t exactly ablaze with a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games.

“There are no excuses,” Hartsburg said. “If somebody wants to blame me, the system, the players, a line, what argument do any of us have?

“Go in the dressing room. If they are not sitting there to answer questions, then we really have a problem.”

For the first time all evening, the Ducks showed up, even if it was only to atone.

“We were not ready to play,” Paul Kariya said. “There wasn’t a guy in this dressing room ready to play. I don’t know why.

“The last three games we played good hockey and all we had was one victory. We seemed happy with that. We have to sacrifice for more than two periods or 55 minutes.”

They failed on five power-play chances and have only two goals in their last 48 advantages. In the last eight games, they have scored more short-handed goals (three) than power play goals (two).

“We’re not that good a hockey team that we can throw our sticks out there and expect to win,” Teemu Selanne said. “Everybody has to do their job and work hard. We’re not going to make excuses or point fingers.”

A scoreless first period ended with a gaffe by Duck goalie Dominic Roussel, who was playing because Guy Hebert had the flu.

Roussel wandered into the corner to retrieve the puck and said he tried to bank it off the glass. It went into the crowd instead, an automatic delay of game penalty with 32 seconds left.

It hurt.

Miroslav Satan, Alexei Zhitnik and Curtis Brown hooked up on pretty power-play goal. Satan slipped a pass to Zhitnik, who went down the left side, then fired a perfect centering pass to Brown for the goal.

The Sabres were a league-low 10.3% on the power play entering the game.

Dixon Ward then buried the Ducks. First, he was left alone 10 feet in front of the net and scored for a 2-0 lead. Then, with time running out in the second period, Ward darted slipped a pass to Vaclav Varada who scored for a 3-0 lead.

Game over.

“There’s no easy way out now,” Selanne said. “Everybody has to stick together now. The guys in this dressing room are the guys who are going to help us. We got to find a way. This is enough now.”