Giguere to Get Another Chance

Coach Guy Charron isn’t about to send goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere back to the bench after a rough outing like Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Giguere is expected to be in net Wednesday when the Ducks play host to the Detroit Red Wings.

“He’s always responded very well,” Charron said of Giguere, who was the victim of some shoddy defensive play in front of him that led to four goals on only 18 shots. Kevyn Adams had an empty-net goal for Columbus.

Giguere is 4-10-2 with one shutout, a 2.75 goals-against average and an .898 save percentage in 17 games. He refused to use the defensive breakdowns that led to several easy goals for the Blue Jackets as an excuse for his performance.

“They had some good goals, but I didn’t make any big saves,” he said. “It’s my job to make at least one big save in every game. Maybe it would have changed the outcome of the game.”

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Right wing Teemu Selanne did not practice Monday, sitting out because he “was under the weather,” according to Charron.

“He’s just getting a little rest,” Charron said. “There’s no sense pushing him.” Selanne didn’t have his usual spark Sunday and failed to record a shot on net. He assisted on Paul Kariya’s power-play goal, extending his point streak to four games.

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Kariya left the ice Monday and said he’s done speaking to reporters this season, waving his arms like a baseball umpire giving the safe sign. It’s a running gag. He tells the team’s media relations staff he’s not talking, then proceeds to fill up reporters’ notebooks.

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Charron liked the way rookie winger Petr Tenkrat responded to getting scratched for the first time in his NHL career. Tenkrat did not play Sunday, but was flying around the ice Monday in practice. Charron said he’ll wait to see how it goes at today’s practice before deciding if Tenkrat will play Wednesday. Tenkrat hasn’t scored a goal since Jan. 3.

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For what it’s worth, the Ducks went 1-3 against the Blue Jackets and 2-2 against the Minnesota Wild for a combined 3-5 record against the NHL’s expansion teams.

At least one Columbus player complained about the starting times for Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against the Kings and Sunday’s 5 p.m. game against the Ducks. No one bothered to point out that it’s more rest between games than teams usually get when playing at 7:30 on consecutive nights.

The Ducks must win eight of their final 18 games to match their lowest victory total in the franchise’s eight-season history. They were 26-43-13 in 1997-98.