Ducks Are Heading South Quickly

Marty McInnis zoomed down left wing mere seconds into Friday’s game at the Arrowhead Pond. The Mighty Duck winger slipped a flawless centering pass to a hard-charging Mike Leclerc for what figured to be an easy tap-in from near the right goal post.

But Leclerc failed to handle the pass cleanly and a glorious scoring chance trickled away from the Ducks.

That was pretty much it for the highlights for the Ducks, who lost in all-too-familiar fashion to the Dallas Stars, 5-2, before an announced crowd of 14,660.

The loss was the Ducks’ fourth consecutive, their fifth losing streak of four games or more this season.

“I double hit it,” Leclerc said of his near-miss. “I backhanded it and when I pulled my stick back, it hit the puck again and knocked it off my toe [and away from Dallas goalie Ed Belfour]. I saved it. I’ve got to put those in the net. It would have given us a great start.”

Instead, the Ducks fell behind, 3-0, before defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky scored a power-play goal 4:25 into the third period. Dallas increased its lead to 5-1 before center Matt Cullen scored his first goal since Dec. 28, accounting for the final score.

“I kind of forgot what it was like to score,” Cullen said of ending a 25-game drought. “It was too little too late, but maybe it’s something I can build on.”

At this point, rebuilding their shattered confidence is about all the Ducks, last in the Western Conference standings since Jan. 27, can hope to accomplish before the end of the regular season April 8.

The Ducks, who played their second consecutive game without injured winger Teemu Selanne, failed to capitalize on any momentum they might have generated from their scoring chance on the opening shift.

To be sure, the Ducks missed Selanne, their leading scorer with 56 points. But their problems couldn’t be solved by one man Friday against Dallas.

Grant Marshall and Jere Lehtinen were left unmarked in the first period and they scored easy-looking goals for the Stars, who ended a three-game losing streak and vaulted over the San Jose Sharks into first place in the Pacific Division. It’s the first time the Stars have led the division since Jan. 24.

In the third period, Brett Hull, Mike Modano and Ted Donato scored without so much as a Duck in the same area code. Dallas needed only 19 shots to score its five goals.

“When it got to be a 5-1 score, I told the team, ‘If you guys think you can score five goals in less than a period against the Dallas Stars, then you’re in the wrong business,’ ” Duck Coach Guy Charron said. “I said, ‘You better not get scored on.’ ”

As has often been the case lately, the Ducks lost their smarts while trying to rally from a relatively manageable deficit. In this case, they trailed, 2-0, after two periods. But they ditched their patient game plan, left the Stars open far too often and paid a stiff price.

“They keep it simple,” Leclerc said of the Stars. “They don’t do anything fancy. They use their speed well.”

Added Cullen: “They’re so strong defensively. They’re so smart, so disciplined. They don’t give you anything. Any time they’re ahead, it’s a tough position for us to be in.”

Other than their misfire on the opening shift, the Ducks didn’t generate a sustained attack against Belfour. Down, 1-0, Duck captain Paul Kariya swatted a puck out of midair toward the net from the right faceoff circle. The puck struck the crossbar and away from Belfour’s net, however.

The Ducks’ next good chance came when Cullen fed a cross-ice pass to Tverdovsky, who scored his 11th goal, trimming the Dallas lead to 3-1.

Modano, who scored at the 4:50 mark, and Donato put the game out of reach with goals 1:11 apart. Hull’s goal was his team-leading 30th, the 11th time in his career than he’s scored 30 or more.

Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 20 saves in suffering his fourth consecutive loss. Charron wouldn’t say whether Giguere or Guy Hebert would start Sunday against the Kings. Hebert shut out the Kings, 4-0, Dec. 3.