Same Old Story for Ducks

So, what it is about the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks? The mere presence of the Panthers seems to cause seismic events in the world of the Ducks this season, directly and indirectly.

Directly: After a blowout on Nov. 21--six goals by the Panthers and none by the visiting Ducks certainly qualified as one--teammates Paul Kariya and Pavel Trnka came to blows the next day at practice, a rare show of anger by Kariya.

Indirectly: The Panthers were at the Arrowhead Pond on Friday, following another seminal moment in Anaheim, the unexpected resignation of the Ducks’ first and most-powerful employee, chairman and governor Tony Tavares, also president of the Angels.

The events of Friday, the appearance of the Panthers and the departure of Tavares had no true relation, of course, Other than the fact it is interesting to note the Ducks and the Panthers entered the NHL the same season, and one team, Florida, at least has made the Stanley Cup finals once, in 1996.

The first game of the post-Tavares era was nothing like the last meeting between the Ducks and Panthers. This one was tight-checking and low-scoring, just two goals through nearly 50 minutes. It ended with another Duck loss in the cavern-like Pond before an announced crowd of 10,696.

Florida won, 2-1, on rookie forward Kristian Huselius’ game-winner at 9:11 of the third period. It was the Ducks’ 13th one-goal loss.

Huselius, who has scored three goals in two games against the Ducks, took the puck from behind the net and skated out front, virtually untouched, and tucked it in past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The Ducks and the Panthers traded second-period goals. Duck left wing Jeff Friesen broke through at 7:36 from the right crease on a rebound after a scramble in front. It was his 10th of the season and second in 10 games. Trnka and Matt Cullen assisted.

Then the enigmatic Pavel Bure equalized for Florida at 13:33. With the teams playing four-on-four, Bure beat Giguere on the glove side with a 40-foot blast from the slot which deflected off Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei.

Bure had been practically unnoticeable before that, flickering in and out like a weak television signal. He had the most ice time of the Panthers--8:11 in the first period--and had no shots and almost no presence until scoring and later assisting on the game-winner.

All this kept the Ducks winless since Dec. 26, a five-game stretch in which they’ve gone 0-4-1, and continued a trend in which they have struggled against the lower-rent teams of the NHL.

“Too many nights like this, haven’t there been?” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said. “One-goal game, third period and we can’t find a way to score goals.... It’s hard on all of us. It’s disappointing and frustrating and all those words, but I tell you, we’ve competed in every game. Tonight, the game sits there in the third period. It’s all about goal-scoring. We just didn’t finish.”

Duck President and General Manager Pierre Gauthier indicated that Tavares had been weighing the decision for much longer than the recent slump.

“Tony’s been thinking about this for awhile now, certainly a matter of months,” Gauthier said. “You never know what the timing is going to be on these things. I think 244 games (Ducks and Angels) a year got to him a little bit. It would get to anybody.”