An Overtime Outage

Any way you look at it, a point is a point, but the Mighty Ducks were not too happy with the one they gained Wednesday night against Edmonton.

The Oilers’ Steve Staios made sure the Ducks left Skyreach Centre on a bad note, scoring the game-winning goal 1:21 into overtime to give Edmonton a 3-2 victory in front of 15,545.

“It’s like we were satisfied to get a point, instead of being hungry to get another one,” forward Marty McInnis said about the Ducks’ poor play in overtime. “You are not going to win many games sitting back on your heels rather than attacking.”

With the Northwest Division-leading Oilers hungry for a win after losing two home games in a row, the Ducks gave them everything they could handle behind a stellar performance from goaltender Steve Shields, who stopped 42 shots. “Until our team learns that we have to play defense in order to win, we are going to stay at the bottom of the pile,” Shields said. “Yes, I’m frustrated to lose a game like this.”

Once regulation came to an end, the Ducks seemed to lose their focus. Edmonton had the puck for nearly the entire overtime as the Ducks failed to get the puck out of their zone. Their last unsuccessful try ended up winning the game for Edmonton.

“We got absolutely careless in overtime,” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said. ) “We gave them a number of chances. It just looked like we were tired at the end of the game. More mentally tired than physically.”

Staios scored the game’s final goal when he took advantage of Duck winger Jeff Friesen, who turned his head to look at the Oilers’ Anson Carter with the puck. Once Friesen lost contact, Carter delivered a perfect pass to Staios, who knocked in his second goal of the season.

“You can’t let stuff like that happen,” said Friesen, who played a solid game until his miscue in overtime. “They had the puck in our end and we didn’t get it out continuously. I saw Carter and I tried to freeze him, and when I did that [Staios] went by me.”

When the Ducks traded Teemu Selanne to San Jose late last season, they hoped Friesen would pick up the slack and for the most part, that hasn’t happened. But Friesen has become more active lately and he had a hand on both Duck goals.

Friesen teamed up with McInnis on a two-man break that gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead. From the left circle, he assisted on McInnis’ sixth goal 6:35 into the opening period. But the Oilers (17-8-3-1), who entered Wednesday’s game tied with Calgary for the third most points in the league, quickly bounced back to tie the score. Defenseman Scott Ferguson, a healthy scratch in Edmonton’s previous seven games, whacked home a shot from the blue line for his second goal of the season at 7:57.

Edmonton was able to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when center Mike Comrie eluded two Duck defenders before beating Shields with a backhander at 15:23.

Although Edmonton outshot the Ducks, 18-10, in the second period, Anaheim controlled the play for much of the final 10 minutes. That’s how they were able to tie the score at 2-2.

Friesen was credited with his seventh goal of the season when he crashed the net following a shot by Andy McDonald. After stopping McDonald’s shot, Edmonton goaltender Tommy Salo was taken out of the play and the puck slipped through his pads.