Tverdovsky Faces Up to Team’s Poor Play

DETROIT — There aren’t many Mighty Ducks who can look in the mirror and honestly say they are having standout seasons, but defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky is one--and not only because of his stand-up play on the ice.

Game in and game out, Tverdovsky is one of the few Ducks willing to face reporters and tell it like it is, no matter the outcome.

Tverdovsky, the team’s third-leading scorer with 34 points, did it again after Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild at the Arrowhead Pond. After playing a team-high 25 minutes 31 seconds, he pulled no punches about the sorry state of affairs in Anaheim.

“For some reason, for a long stretch of games now, we aren’t playing good defense,” Tverdovsky said, referring to a three-game losing streak in which the Ducks have been outscored, 13-5.

“It is a five-man job. We’re not working as a unit when we’re defending. We’re kind of separate. We have our defense, we have our forwards, we have our goalie, but we don’t work as a team.”

Tverdovsky was uncertain whether he could play Wednesday after suffering back spasms when he was checked along the boards in a 4-2 loss Sunday to the Colorado Avalanche. But he led the team in ice time against Minnesota and extended his streak of consecutive games to 259, the NHL’s second-longest active streak behind Tony Amonte of the Chicago Blackhawks (295).

Tverdovsky didn’t play simply to keep the streak alive, Coach Guy Charron said.

“He knows he would be hurting the team if he could only skate a few shifts just to keep the streak going,” Charron said. “I think he’s the kind of person who wouldn’t want it to continue that way.”

TONIGHT

at Detroit, 4:30 PST

Fox Sports Net 2

* Site--Joe Louis Arena.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Ducks 15-26-6-4, Red Wings 28-15-4-4.

* Record vs. Red Wings--0-1-0-1.

* Update--Left wing Paul Kariya, sidelined since suffering a broken right foot Dec. 17, will join the morning skate before deciding whether to play tonight or perhaps wait until Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Injured forwards Mike Leclerc and Steve Rucchin joined the team for this two-game trip to Detroit and Columbus, but neither will play. Left wing Marty McInnis (groin) and defenseman Ruslan Salei (headaches) did not make the trip. The Red Wings needed an overtime goal from Sergei Fedorov to win, 2-1, in the teams’ last meeting Dec. 22 at Joe Louis Arena. The Ducks’ only victory at Detroit in eight seasons was a 1-0 overtime triumph March 30, 1998.