Fresh Start for Ducks Ends With the Same Stale Result

Same old, same old.

The Mighty Ducks long ago stopped being creative in their efforts to give away games. Their lack of imagination was on full display again Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Arrowhead Pond.

“I don’t know if we’re just stupid or we’re not learning from our mistakes,” captain Paul Kariya said after a pair of third-period defensive breakdowns led to two breakaway goals for Chicago in the Ducks’ 3-2 loss to the Blackhawks before an announced crowd of 11,682.

The Ducks’ third-period gaffes overshadowed a rousing start and the return of grinding forward Mike Leclerc from a six-week absence because of damaged knee cartilage.

“You can’t give up breakaways in a 1-1 game,” Kariya said after the Ducks’ seventh consecutive loss at the Pond. “That’s Pee Wee hockey right there. Our team makes four or five big errors in every game. It’s one thing to make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But we seem to make the same mistakes over and over.”

Locked in a tie game in the closing minutes of the third period, the Ducks would have been wise to pick their spots while concentrating on eliminating scoring chances for the Blackhawks.

Instead, the Ducks played it too fast and loose and paid the price, giving up breakaway goals to Steve Sullivan at the 12:37 mark and to Eric Daze at 13:51.

“We gave up two breakaways in a 1-1 game,” Kariya said, clearly flabbergasted by the latest set of Duck defensive lapses in a season filled with them. “I don’t know where the exact breakdowns were, but you can’t do that.”

The Ducks were caught on the wrong side of the puck on Sullivan’s goal. Even defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, one of the fastest Duck skaters, couldn’t retreat quickly enough to stop Sullivan’s solo break down the left wing.

Moments later, a bad pinch along the boards in the neutral zone left Antti-Jussi Niemi as the only defenseman back. A cross-ice breakout pass from Josef Marha, a former Duck, to Daze triggered the breakaway. Niemi couldn’t close the gap on Daze fast enough.

Kariya and center Tony Hrkac scored for the Ducks, who lost for the 30th time in 56 games this season.

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 24 saves, keeping the Blackhawks scoreless until Alexander Karpovtsev’s power-play goal with 40 seconds left in the second period. Kariya’s power-play goal 3:57 into the game had given the Ducks a 1-0 lead.

“I thought there was nothing wrong with a one-goal lead after the first period,” Duck Coach Guy Charron said. “I thought going into the third period, 1-1, we were in pretty good shape. Then we gave them too much open ice.

“Maybe we needed to tighten up defensively, like we did in the first period. We’ve been vulnerable when the game’s been close. We gave them too much in the third.”

And yet the Ducks still had two terrific chances to produce a tying goal in the final minutes of the third period. But two power-play opportunities in the game’s final 4 1/2 minutes failed to produce a single shot on Jocelyn Thibault’s net.

On the second chance, after Dean McAmmond was penalized for hooking German Titov at 17:46, Charron pulled Giguere in favor of a sixth skater with about 1:20 left. The Ducks swarmed Thibault’s net, but came up empty.

“It seems like the same story when we come up short,” Charron said. “Maybe our power play could have chipped in a goal here or there.”

Kariya’s first goal since Dec. 15 against the New York Rangers gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead and it seemed to spark his teammates.

While skating on the power play, Kariya slipped into the left circle, accepted a centering pass from the left wing from Matt Cullen and, in one motion, whipped the puck by Thibault. Kariya had only one assist in his first four games back in the lineup after being sidelined for 16 because of a broken right foot.

But Kariya, who had three assists in Sunday’s All-Star game, seemed to be skating with more zip Wednesday than in his first games after a six-week layoff. He also showed his feisty side, knocking down renowned Chicago tough guy Bob Probert with a third-period check against the boards.