Ducks Can’t Be Saved in Loss

The difference between a good team and a bad one could be measured in mere inches Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

Guess which was the good team. Hint: it wasn’t the Mighty Ducks, who dropped their eighth consecutive home game in frustrating fashion, 4-3, to the Washington Capitals before an announced crowd of 12,942.

All that separated the teams by game’s end were two plays by their goaltenders--one successful, one not.

Once again, it was an all-too-familiar unfathomable goal that doomed Duck goalie Guy Hebert, whose winless streak reached 13 consecutive starts (0-11-2).

Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig, on the other hand, came up with a remarkable save at a pivotal moment in the game, thrusting his right pad into the path of a point-blank shot.

Because Hebert could not make a key save and Kolzig could, Washington Coach Ron Wilson won his first game against his former team in four tries at the Pond. The Ducks’ last victory in Anaheim was a 3-2 overtime win Jan. 3 over the Florida Panthers.

Washington defenseman Sergei Gonchar’s bad-angle goal from the right wing gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead with 4:31 left in the first period and sent a dagger into the Ducks’ hopes of ending the longest home losing streak in franchise history.

The mere fact that Gonchar scored his 12th goal of the season was not nearly as remarkable as how the puck crossed the goal line.

“I just found out now,” Hebert said at game’s end when asked what happened on the play. “Originally, I though he shot, it hit me in the [left] shoulder, hit the crossbar and went in. But the guys told me it hit me, hit the crossbar, went out the other side [to Hebert’s right], hit their guy, hit our guy and then went in the net.”

TV replays available to reporters indicated that the puck struck Duck center German Titov in the rear end before finally settling into the net behind Hebert.

“There’s no doubt it’s frustrating,” Hebert said. “All the guys are out there trying to put it behind them and move on with the game. But sometimes it’s difficult.”

Matters would grow increasingly difficult for the Ducks, last in the NHL’s Western Conference. The Southeast Division-leading Capitals built a 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Gonchar and Peter Bondra, who took over the league lead with his 31st and 32nd goals.

When Paul Kariya ripped a second-period slap shot past Kolzig at the 5:16 mark of the second period, it seemed the Ducks might finally have snapped to life. Moments after the ensuing faceoff, defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky sliced through the Capital defense before slipping the puck to Teemu Selanne, who was stationed near the left goal post.

Selanne’s low one-timer appeared destined for the back of the net, trimming the Duck deficit to 3-2 with plenty of time remaining to complete a comeback. At the last instant, Kolzig stuck out his right leg to thwart Selanne. Play continued and, soon enough, Washington’s Richard Zednik broke free of the pack and slipped a quick shot through Hebert’s legs for a 4-1 Capital lead at 6:13.

Kariya and Tverdovsky scored to cut the lead to 4-3, but the Duck comeback stalled in the final frantic moments of the final period. Kariya’s first two-goal game this season and the 40th of his career enabled him to reach the 500-point milestone.

“That’s why we’ve been saying there’s a fine line between winning and losing,” Duck Coach Guy Charron said. “It could have been 3-2 and instead it’s 4-1. How often in a hockey game do you see one team miss on a great chance at one end and the other team comes down and scores?”

Hebert could only shake his head about Gonchar’s lucky goal, but said he wished he had played Zednik’s goal differently.

“I’m pretty upset about that Zednik goal,” said Hebert, whose last victory was Dec. 17 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I was in good position, but I wasn’t patient enough. I was waiting for him to shoot. But instead of being down firm on the ice, I went down too slowly. That’s a save I need to make to help us turn things around. Kolzig made a nice pad save right before that, too.”