Shields Says He’s Ready for Much More Action

Mighty Duck goalie Steve Shields made his first start in 20 days and it was anything but a pleasant outing.

Shields has been on the bench since Jan. 21, a streak of seven games. He wasn’t at his best Sunday in a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, although he said more work isn’t what he needs.

“Right now I need a lot of goals,” Shields said.

The strong play of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who is sixth in the league in save percentage and goals-against, has kept Shields on the bench. Shields’ last start was a 4-2 loss to the Kings.

“I love to play, I play better when I play a lot,” Shields said. “But the situation is dictated I don’t play a lot recently. So I have to do the best I can when I get out there.”

Shields is one of the players General Manager Pierre Gauthier has indicated he would trade. Giguere has established himself as the Ducks’ No. 1 goalie and 21-year-old Ilja Bryzgalov seems to be living up the promise that led the Ducks to select him in the second round of the 2000 draft.

Bryzgalov was named to the Russian Olympic team Friday.

Shields has a 5-17-2 record, but the Ducks have scored two or fewer goals in all but two of his starts.

*

Dallas center Joe Nieuwendyk was scratched Sunday because of flu.

Mike Leclerc’s second-period power-play goal was only the Ducks’ second in the last 25 power plays.

Chris Foster