Injuries Add to Losers’ Woes

As if a 5-1 drubbing against the St. Louis Blues wasn’t bad enough, the Ducks suffered two significant injuries Sunday.

Defenseman Pavel Trnka suffered a sprained right ankle during a collision with 3:05 to play in the second period. Coach Craig Hartsburg was uncertain how long Trnka would be sidelined but said “it’s going to be significant.”

Trnka sat out the final 10 games of last season because of a sprained left ankle.

First-year forward Jonas Ronnqvist suffered a “tweaked” right knee in the second period and did not return to the game. Hartsburg wasn’t immediately sure how it happened.

The Ducks hope to learn more today about Ronnqvist’s status for Wednesday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

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About the only positive Hartsburg could identify Sunday was the Ducks’ strong play on the penalty kill. The Ducks were last in the league with a meager 79.1% success rate in 1999-2000. But they have successfully killed all but one of 14 short-handed situations in two games this season.

“The only part of our game we seemed to have any pride in [Sunday] was our penalty kill,” Hartsburg said. “And our goaltender [Guy Hebert] had a lot to do with it too.”

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The announced crowd of 11,134 edged out the previous record-low of 12,047 set last Dec. 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But the Ducks refused to use the lack of fans as an excuse for their lack of energy on the ice.

“It’s always nice when the building is full and the fans are cheering for you, but you still have to play the game,” defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “Most of the time you don’t even notice how many people are in the building. They [the Blues] didn’t have any support here today. It’s not an issue.”