Hebert in Danger of Losing No. 1 Status to Giguere

Players and coaches have come and gone, but Guy Hebert has been the Ducks’ No. 1 goaltender since Ron Tugnutt was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Stephan Lebeau on Feb. 20, 1994.

But it now appears Hebert will have to fend off Jean-Sebastien Giguere in order to maintain his stranglehold on the top spot.

Hebert wasn’t sharp in giving up four goals in the first period of the Ducks’ 4-2 loss Sunday to the Colorado Avalanche. Giguere replaced Hebert after the first period and, although Giguere faced only token pressure in the final 40 minutes, the Avalanche failed to score again.

“We’ll make an assessment after every game,” Coach Guy Charron said. “We’re trying to make decisions that help the team.”

At the moment, it would appear the best move for the Ducks would be to let Giguere continue in goal until he does something to warrant a change. Although he has only one victory in six appearances, Giguere has injected some much-needed life into his teammates each time he has been in goal.

What’s more, Giguere has stopped 68 of 74 shots for a .919 save percentage in his last three games. Hebert, who is 0-8-2 in his last 10 starts, gave up four goals in seven shots Sunday.

“Four goals in seven shots, we needed better than that,” Charron said. “Obviously, Guy has been our No. 1. Jean-Sebastien is a young prospect who deserves to play. To say there’s a No. 1 right now, well, we’re looking at it game to game.”

The Ducks’ next game is Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild. Expect to see Giguere--not Hebert--in goal.

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Colorado center Joe Sakic assisted on first-period goals by Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay, the 699th and 700th of his career.