Overtime Loss in Dallas Not Pointless for Ducks

The race began in earnest this week. By the looks of it, the Mighty Ducks might mess this one up, too.

Playing just well enough to lose Friday, the Ducks forced the Dallas Stars to overtime, picking up a point before falling, 3-2, on defenseman Derian Hatcher’s goal 1:35 into the five-minute extra period at Reunion Arena.

That’s three points in three games for the Ducks, last in the Western Conference but making noises about departing the cellar sooner rather than later.

If you’re still keeping tabs on these things, and we certainly wouldn’t blame you if you are not, the Ducks trail the 14th-place Columbus Blue Jackets by two points. What’s more, the Ducks lead only the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning, the dregs of the Eastern Conference, by seven points.

To the NHL’s last-place team goes the top pick in the June draft, which very well could be Jason Spezza, a crafty 6-foot-2, 204-pound center who has 33 goals and 86 points in 41 games in the junior-level Ontario Hockey League.

But the way the Ducks have been going, they just might blow their chance at drafting him, leaving virtually nothing positive to look forward to in the final 22 games of what almost certainly will be the worst of their eight NHL seasons.

“It hasn’t come easy for us and it won’t come easy for us,” Coach Guy Charron said. He was referring specifically to Friday’s loss to the Stars, the Ducks’ 15th in 18 visits to Dallas. But he could just have easily been speaking about the Ducks’ 2000-01 season.

“We are playing well and playing hard,” right wing Teemu Selanne said. “We’re doing a lot of things right, but we still have to find a way to win.”

The Ducks found a way to bag their 45th point Friday, but also discovered ways to lose in overtime for the fifth time. Only the Florida Panthers, with seven, have lost more often in overtime.

Each of the Stars’ three goals could have been stopped, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere picked the wrong moments to fight the puck and suffered his eighth loss in 13 games.

First, the Ducks gave Dallas grinder Benoit Hogue too much open ice on left wing and he walked into a slap shot from the top of the circle that beat Giguere over the left shoulder 49 seconds into the game. Duck defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky’s power-play goal tied the score, 1-1, at 7:24.

Second, Dallas’ Mike Modano scored on a sharp-angle shot from left wing while the Stars were shorthanded for a 2-1 lead 4:29 into the third period. The puck glanced off Giguere’s shoulder, popped into the air, rolled down his back and into the net. Duck defenseman Pascal Trepanier’s goal tied the score, 2-2, at 10:23.

Third, Hatcher beat Giguere with an open slap shot from the left circle as the Ducks botched their defensive zone coverage while skating four-on-four in the overtime period. Game over.

“We’re so close,” Selanne said. “I know you’re tired of hearing these things, but we have played so well. If we were playing poorly, it would be different. I can’t say we’re playing bad. I can’t say those guys were so much better than us.”

The difference between a playoff team and a last-place team was evident Friday, particularly in goal. Unlike Giguere, 23, veteran Ed Belfour made all manner of saves for the Stars.

Particularly frustrating for Selanne were two exceptional saves Belfour made to thwart the Duck winger. A two-on-one break with the teams tied, 1-1, late in the opening period seemed promising. Left wing Paul Kariya slipped the puck to Selanne for an easy tap-in, but Belfour moved from his right to his left to make a difficult save seem easy.

Later, with the teams still deadlocked at 1-1 in the closing seconds of the second period, Belfour raised his left leg to deny Selanne from point-blank range from near the right goal post.

In overtime, the Stars’ patience and persistence in the attacking zone led to Hatcher’s winner, his second in six games. Hatcher also scored the go-ahead goal in the Stars’ 3-2 victory Feb. 7 against the Edmonton Oilers.