Gauthier’s Future Shaky With Ducks

This may become more about one man’s future than one team’s success.

Speculation is growing that Mighty Duck President and General Manager Pierre Gauthier may be on the road to unemployment. His team did little to stop that journey Tuesday, as the Ducks blew a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay in front of an announced 15,012 at the Ice Palace.

A source said that Disney officials are becoming increasing frustrated with the Ducks’ situation. Gauthier has shuffled players in and out and had three coaches in the last year. The next step may lead to him.

Certainly the Ducks have not helped his cause with a seven-game winless streak, two shy of the franchise’s longest.

This time the Ducks cried foul on a penalty called on Mike Leclerc, who hooked Brad Richards with 3 minutes 28 seconds left. Ben Clymer banged home a goal with two minutes left to complete a comeback from a 2-0 first-period deficit.

“It’s tie game, three minutes left,” Leclerc said. “He went down pretty easy. I don’t know if you can make that call at that time of the game. Let the players decide the game, you know.”

Leclerc, though, said he had not seen the replay. The call, though, wiped out a Duck scoring chance, as Matt Cullen ended up with the puck deep in the Lightning zone.

“I guess that’s his discretion,” Leclerc said.

Duck Coach Bryan Murray agreed.

“You don’t call those at the end of the game,” Murray said. “I can’t say that I saw it totally. I saw Mike reach and I saw the guy go down. A couple of those guys went down about four times without being touched anyway.”

The Ducks have gone down almost as frequently on this road trip. They have lost the first three games on a six-game trip against teams that are struggling, Columbus, Washington and Tampa Bay. They also have blown third-period leads three times in the last seven games, and couldn’t hold off the Lightning on Tuesday.

How much longer Gauthier will oversee the Duck mess remains to be seen.

The Ducks, as they did last season, are unraveling because of injuries, which has exposed a lack of talent and depth in the organization. Disney officials, the source said, are also unhappy with a lack of communication by Gauthier. Team sponsors have complained, as have the dwindling number of fans, the source said.

Neither Gauthier nor Disney officials could be reached for comment. But Gauthier’s fate may be left in the shaky hands of his team.

The Ducks jumped out to a 2-0 lead, courtesy of two Paul Kariya goals. One came on a power play, snapping a string of 28 consecutive power plays without a goal. But prosperity and the Ducks are incompatible as partners and the second period showed that.

Defensive lapses by Ruslan Salei and Niclas Havelid led to the first Lightning goal.

Salei pinched up, creating a two-on-one break, which Jihad Ylonen and Vaclav Prospal worked in textbook fashion, Ylonen scoring when Havelid committed to Prospal.

Havelid then was called for roughing, which led to a power-play goal by Prospal that tied the score, 2-2.

“We let up in the second period,” Leclerc said. “We got to learn how to win some games. We can’t easy up when we have teams down. We have to kick them again. Their own fans were booing them.”

The offense, after Kariya’s onslaught, was unable to beat Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Jeff Friesen had the best chance, with a breakaway in the third period with the score tied. But his shot went high over the net.

The Ducks have scored two or fewer goals in 15 of their 21 games.

“You have a road trip like this in the first half of the season, we certainly have come and play better than we did the first couple games,” Murray said. “These games against the same level type of team, you have to win some of them.”