The Plot Sickens in Ducks’ Latest Loss

This was all too familiar for the Mighty Ducks, like a tired scene played over and over in a B-movie.

Ducks play hard.

Ducks have a chance in third period.

Ducks blow it.

Cut. Print. That’s a wrap.

A wrap to San Jose’s 5-2 victory in front of an announced 12,190 at the Arrowhead Pond Friday. A wrap to the Ducks’ season. What else is left but battles to avoid a second consecutive last-place finish in the Western Conference?

This time the Ducks found a villain: referee Rob Martell.

The Ducks outplayed the Sharks, the Pacific Division leaders, rallying from a 2-0 first-period deficit to pull even after two periods. All for naught.

Five minutes into the third, Duck enforcer Denny Lambert was nailed with a little extra after he scuffled with Matt Bradley. Both received fighting majors, but Lambert was given a minor for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct.

Marcus Ragnarsson scored the second of his two goals on the power play. Marco Sturm and Alexander Korolyuk then poured salt into the wound with insurance goals and the Ducks continued to seethe afterward.

“The lack of respect shown to our team is atrocious,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “Bradley speared Denny coming up the ice. Denny dropped his gloves first but they didn’t start swinging until they both had dropped their gloves. In a 2-2 game, you don’t make that call.”

In a 2-2 game involving the Ducks, what happens is usually worst-case scenario. They have blown third-period leads three times in the last 11 games. In two other games, they were tied in the third period and lost. They are 0-3-2-0 in those games.

“It was disappointing that we came from behind only to have that happen,” Murray said. “I don’t want to say anymore or I’ll get into trouble.

“Maybe the thing Denny should do is turtle in that situation. But he’s not going to do that. We’re a fragile team right now. We know that and to have that happen just put us in a hole.”

Ragnarsson shoveled on the dirt. He took a pass from Owen Nolan and fired a wrist shot that deflected off the crossbar and into the net for a 3-2 lead 3 minutes 41 seconds into the third period.

“That was the worst call I have ever seen,” Lambert said. “No one instigated anything. I have no idea why he made the call. [Bradley] and I ran into each other. He might have even said, ‘Let’s go.’ If it’s a 5-1 game and you want to get rid of the guy, yeah. But it was 2-2. That’s just a five-minute fighting penalty. It’s just crazy.”

The Sharks, of course, saw it differently.

“It was definitely instigating, no question,” Coach Darryl Sutter said. “I thought it was about time it got called the way those two guys were on the ice.”

The “two guys” were Lambert and teammate Kevin Sawyer, who helped spark the Ducks’ comeback during a melee at the end of the first period.

Ragnarsson knocked in a rebound for a goal to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 14:48 of the first period. The Ducks were immediately put in a bad position--their own power play, which at its best has been ineffectual this season, and at its worst has been costly, as it was Friday.

The Sharks created a two-on-one break, with Mike Ricci firing a shot past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere for a 2-0 lead at 16:05. It was the fifth short-handed goal scored against the Ducks this season, the most in the NHL.

The first period ended with a scrum in the Sharks’ zone, with Sawyer and Lambert center stage. Sawyer battled Mark Smith, with both receiving fighting penalties and two-minute minors. But San Jose’s Bryan Marchment was called for hooking, giving the Ducks a power play to start the second period.

Marty McInnis scored a minute into the period. Dan Bylsma upped his career high to five goals when he scored two minutes later.