There’s No Defense for Porous Performance

Several Ducks gathered in front of a television Thursday to watch a horror flick. Actually, it was Fox Sport Net’s afternoon replay of their 6-2 loss Wednesday to the Kings at Staples Center.

“Aw, turn the channel,” Teemu Selanne grumbled while walking from the shower.

“I don’t want to see that again,” goaltender Dominic Roussel added.

Soon enough, the game was switched off in favor of a business report on CNN. There was no sense reliving “Nightmare on Figueroa Street.”

“Usually, after a game, you analyze it and figure out what went wrong,” Paul Kariya said. “We started OK. They just out-hustled us. They won all the battles. They wanted the game more than we did. I don’t know why. We stunk it up.”

After a solid first period, the Ducks hardly put a hand on any on-rushing Kings and the score went from 1-1 after 20 minutes to 4-1 after 40. By game’s end, the Ducks had been out-shot, 35-18.

“We were just horrible in the defensive zone,” Kariya said. “We weren’t pressuring the puck. They would dump it in and we weren’t holding up their forwards. Basically, we weren’t doing the job when we didn’t have the puck.

“We have to play the same aggressive, confident style defensively as we do offensively. We’re losing the one-on-one battles and all the things that make up a good defensive team.”

Asked what he believed was missing defensively, Coach Craig Hartsburg said, “Work. Defense is work. You’re going to see some youthful mistakes, but if you work hard, you can make up for mistakes. It’s not very complicated. . . . The players have a lot of pride. They know last night was pretty embarrassing. They know they have to work harder.”

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Goalie Guy Hebert did not practice Thursday, instead resting a swollen left thumb. Hebert said he injured it making a glove save on a long slap shot by King defenseman Rob Blake. It’s not expected to keep Hebert from starting tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. . . . There’s a good chance defenseman Ruslan Salei will play tonight. He missed the last two games because of a sore left foot, but practiced Thursday.

TONIGHT

vs. Edmonton, 7:30

Fox Sports Net 2

* Site--Arrowhead Pond.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Ducks 4-3-1-2, Oilers 5-3-2.

* Record vs. Oilers--(1999-2000) 2-2.

* Update--The Ducks are 20-14-1 lifetime against the Oilers, 12-5-1 at the Pond. Selanne has 28 goals and 55 points in 37 games against Edmonton. Kariya has nine goals and 22 points in 22 games against the Oilers. The Oilers’ opponents have scored first in eight of 10 games.

* Tickets--(714) 703-2545.