Dispirited Hebert Earns Support

Goalie Guy Hebert’s spirits brightened considerably Thursday when he spotted a fishing show on television in the Mighty Ducks’ Anaheim training facility.

“Hey, that looks like the Dry Tortugas,” said Hebert, an avid fisherman who makes a yearly trek to the Florida Keys in the off-season. “Once you go there [the Keys], you’ll never want to fish anywhere else.”

Telling fish stories sure beat talking about hockey for Hebert, who surrendered two soft goals in the Ducks’ 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday.

Hebert gave up a weak tying goal to Jan Hlavac with 1:20 to play in the third period. Brian Leetch then beat him with a strong move 29 seconds into overtime. Hebert also gave up a long-distance lollipop by Radek Dvorak in the final minute of the first period.

Hebert said he found solace at home.

“The great thing about having a family is no matter how bad you stunk at your job they still love you,” he said. “There’s a comfort zone when you come home. You know you can straighten it out before you go back to the rink.”

Hebert and backup Dominic Roussel had a lengthy remedial session with goalie consultant Francois Allaire on Thursday.

Hebert will start Saturday against the Western Conference-leading St. Louis Blues, Coach Craig Hartsburg said. Hebert and Hartsburg had a short conversation toward the end of practice.

“When players don’t play to our expectations, we let them know,” Hartsburg said. “But we let them know we believe in them.”

Said right wing Teemu Selanne: “Guy has saved so many games for us. He’s the man here. Of course he’s down. We tried to make him feel better right away. After the game, we all went over to him and said, ‘Forget about this one.’ ”

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Selanne blamed himself for Leetch’s winner.

“It was my fault,” he said of coughing up the puck in his zone. “I tried to do something with the puck, then [after the Rangers stole the puck] I stayed behind [Petr] Nedved. Leetch took off and I didn’t catch him.”