Ducks Learn Defense Isn’t the Only Answer

Vancouver’s Ed Jovanovski, sliding on his chin, managed to get a stick on the puck, pushing it past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere with 54 seconds left in overtime Wednesday night.

It was a replay Mighty Duck players, especially those counted on to score goals, should run, rewind, and run ... over and over.

Jovanovski got off a first shot, then was knocked to the ice. His momentum carried him toward the net and he managed to swipe at the puck, knocking it between Giguere’s legs for a 1-0 victory in front of an announced 9,570 at the Arrowhead Pond.

“It is a very frustrating way to finish this game,” Giguere said. “In the end, they wanted it more than we did. These things happen when you go to the net and create stuff. You never know what will happen when you go to the net. They did that, they got the win.”

Giguere was speaking about Jovanovski’s play. But the Ducks’ offense might do well to lend him an ear.

Giguere was superb in net, stopping 37 of 38 shots. His defense, especially Ruslan Salei and Vitaly Vishnevski, were vicious and effective. Yet, the Ducks proved again that goaltending and defense take you only so far in the NHL.

Sooner or later, you have to score a goal ... maybe even two.

The Ducks have allowed eight goals in their last five games. They have one victory in that time.

“The way we’re structured, I don’t think we will be a big scoring team,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “We have the ability to score a couple goals a game on average. Is that enough? Not every night in this league, we’ve proven that.”

Basically, the defense is the glass half-full for the Ducks. The offense is dying of thirst.

The Ducks’ best chance came when Dan Bylsma received a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by Brendan Morrison four minutes into the third period. Bylsma tried to slip a shot between the legs of goalie Dan Cloutier, who anticipated and made the save.

That was the Ducks’ offensive highlight.

“I was trying to go stick side and come off the near post,” Bylsma said. “I have taken a number of penalty shots in the minor leagues. I felt good about it. He got a piece of it and made the save.”

Bylsma, though, has no offensive guilt to carry around. He has six goals this season, three more than his career high.

But the usual scorers have not chipped in.

“It’s hard when you are playing in your own zone all the time,” defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “It’s simple, we have to keep the puck in their zone. We have to work their defense. We have to have a second effort.”

Still, the Ducks are 3-3-1-2 in their last nine games. .

“I think we’ve shown a marked improvement,” Murray said. “The effort is there. The attitude is there. The team concept is there. Next step is to find away to get our offense-type players the puck more often in the offensive zone.”

The Ducks had only 10 shots through the first 30 minutes Wednesday. Cloutier made 26 saves for his third shutout this season.

At times the Ducks’ best offense was at their feet.

In the second period, Cloutier stopped a Marc Chouinard shot, but the rebound went off a skate and the puck was trickling toward the goal line before the Canucks’ Artem Chubarov cleared it.

Moments later, Bylsma had a pass go off his skate in front of the net and Cloutier had to dive to his left to make the stop.

In the third period, Duck defenseman Pavel Trnka fired a shot from the blue line that Cloutier stopped, only to have the rebounded go off a skate. Cloutier reached back and smothered the puck .

The Ducks have 68 goals this season, second lowest in the Western Conference.

Cloutier denied the Ducks on several good opportunities. He made four tough saves during a Duck power play midway through the second period. The best opportunity came when Mike Leclerc slipped a shot on goal off a rebound, but Cloutier managed to get a leg on the puck.