Ducks Get Boxed In

Jeff Friesen knew the immediate future, just as sure as he knew he should have skated away from Ottawa’s Shane Hnidy.

He didn’t need to be chewed out by Mighty Duck Coach Bryan Murray before the third period--although he was--to understand what was about to happen.

Friesen could only watch from the penalty box as Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson buried a shot from the blue line, sending the Senators on their way to a 4-2 victory at the Arrowhead Pond on Sunday.

Alfredsson’s power-play goal, his second of the game, 47 seconds into the period broke a 2-2 tie. With only one shot in the third period, the Ducks were never close to getting that goal back. Marian Hossa flipped in an empty-goal late in the period, sending the announced crowd of 12,358 to the exits.

The Ducks rallied from a 2-0 deficit and had the Senators backpedaling, as the second period ended in a 2-2 tie. Then Friesen’s and Hnidy got tangled up after the horn. Friesen was called for high sticking.

“I let my emotion take over and took a dumb penalty,” Friesen said. “I knew what was going to happen. The coaches weren’t happy, I knew I was going to get chewed out coming into the [dressing] room. I could just feel it, they we’re going to score. That’s just the way it has gone for me. Nothing really went as planned. It’s been a disappointing season.”

Friesen, one of two players acquired for Teemu Selanne, has had difficult moments this season. He has decent numbers, 14 goals and 38 points, but has missed on just as many, maybe more, opportunities, including sliding a shot wide of an open net in the first period Sunday.

“Personally, I feel I’m getting better as a player, but it is one of those years where you shake your head,” Friesen said. “There were such high expectations. I just haven’t been able to live up to them. That was another example tonight.”

This night had a twist ... the penalty. The teams were skating four-on-four, as the Ducks’ Oleg Tverdovsky and Ottawa enforcer Chris Neil were already in the penalty box for roughing.

Murray, though, lessened the blow and removed some of the blame.

“I hate to say it, but there were a couple of calls in this game that cost us,” Murray said. “They were really borderline calls and Ottawa took advantage of them. The call on Jeff, the two were pushing, the stick came up a little bit, but it’s a nothing call. We’re playing four-on-four and it’s a 2-2 game. [The refs] know the impact of that.

“The other part is we put ourselves in the position to have questionable calls. Jeff doesn’t have to do that. Oleg doesn’t have to fight Chris Neil. I said to him, ‘You don’t trade yourself for him. That’s his role.’ Those are the things we have to get better at.”

The power play falls into that category as well.

The only good thing that can be said about the Duck power play is that it can’t get any worse. They already rank last in the NHL.

On their first power play Sunday, the Ducks’ Jason York hit the post and Paul Kariya sent a shot off the crossbar. That can be considered a successful power play for a team that has only five goals in their last 46 chances.

But the Ducks got an eyeful of the type of player they need to change that: Alfredsson, who is fourth in the NHL with 33 goals. He scored his first power-play goal to give the Senators a 2-0 lead midway through the first period.

Goals in the second period by German Titov and Denny Lambert got the Ducks even. But Alfredsson’s second goal put the Senators in a comfortable position, satisfied to just deny the Ducks chances the final 19 minutes.