Key for Ducks: Don’t Make Pond a Comfort Zone

The Mighty Ducks’ fans--yes, that’s plural, fans--have taken to e-mailing advice.

Some of it is of the cosmetic nature. There has been a suggestion that the local NHL team hold a bonfire in the parking lot and dispose of its jerseys. How, the fan wonders, can any hockey team that features teal so prominently in its color scheme ever win in the bloody NHL?

Some of the advice is the obvious. The penny-pinching Disney ownership should go out and sign someone famous. German Titov is not famous. General Manager Pierre Gauthier should be fired. Coach Craig Hartsburg should be fired.

Some of the advice is silly. Trade Paul Kariya. Trade Teemu Selanne. These two players are special talents. You won’t find their kind anywhere else.

But some of the advice, it comes from the heart and it seems particularly wise.

One fan made a plea last week. The name on his e-mail was Dale. He asked that his words be listened to, passed on to management, passed on to the players. He is a hockey fan and has been since the Los Angeles Kings started playing in 1967. When the Ducks joined the NHL, closer to his home, he became a Mighty Duck fan.

As the Ducks went winless for eight games, as he watched in helplessness as a season seemed to turn hopeless, Dale asked for something.

Grit, he called it. Go forth and sign Claude Lemieux, Disney. That was one request. Sign Lemieux even though he is old and wants a lot of money. Sign him because other players in the league hate playing against Claude Lemieux. Sign him so that when visiting teams arrive at the Pond, they might not feel comfortable.

That’s what was driving Dale crazy. He sees the opposition arrive and he sees the opposition feeling comfortable. “The Ducks are the Ice Follies of hockey,” Dale wrote. “The Ducks intimidate no one but their poor fans. I hope you can put this into words for me so the Ducks can know, so Disney can know why trust and attendance is down.

“I leave you with one last statement, made by an opposing player during a game against the old rough-and-tumble Philadelphia Flyers. ‘I hate playing here. I feel like we are at a weenie roast and we are the weenies.’ ”

Consider your words passed on, Dale.

The Ducks haven’t signed Claude Lemieux. But since Dale wrote, they have made two teams feel uncomfortable.

Saturday they ended the eight-game winless streak with a stunning demolition of Phoenix, 6-2, on the road. This singular win would have quickly been dismissed had the Ducks not come home Sunday and beaten the New York Islanders, 2-1.

Two wins in a row barely makes a streak but it’s something.

And the thing about those two wins has been that the Ducks suddenly look intimidating on defense.

Goalie Guy Hebert said that after the Ducks lost, 3-0, to Colorado last Wednesday at the Pond, there was some soul-searching and a discovery.

“We noticed and appreciated a lot of the little things Colorado did,” Hebert said. “We saw how a veteran like Raymond Bourque would chip the puck off the board instead of trying to do something fancy, how a guy of his talent and accomplishments still went out and made the simple play. We sat down as a team and decided to take that game as a model. I think sometimes this team has been too impatient and tried some fancy plays when simple ones would have been better.

“With defense, making the simple play sometimes is the most important thing. I see this team and I think it has the most talent of any since I’ve been here. More than the team that went to the second round of the playoffs. But we have to learn to play together.”

Hockey is certainly more than giving out random hard hits, but when 20-year-old defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski was fearlessly slamming various Islanders so hard into the boards that it seemed the ice might crack, yes, Hebert said, “You get a real boost from that. The whole team does.”

In 1997, when the Ducks beat Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs, Hebert said, there was a season-long progression. “We went from being young and unsure,” he said, “to, with about 25 games left, really gaining confidence in each other. That’s what needs to happen with this team.

“Tonight everybody was active. Behind the net guys were talking, telling me where the puck was. When you start getting that sort of communication, it’s a simple thing but it’s important.”

Nothing is ever simple with the Ducks. The New Jersey Devils come to the Pond Wednesday. Will they feel uncomfortable? Too soon to tell, Dale.

*

Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com