Power Play Becomes a Man-Disadvantage

Words that describe a season on the blink.

“We were playing fine until we got the five-minute power play,” Mighty Duck Coach Bryan Murray said.

Sure, the Ducks went on the power play for five minutes and St. Louis scored. Instead of the Ducks dominating, the Blues were on their way to a 3-2 victory Sunday in front of an announced 12,702 at the Arrowhead Pound.

Words that capture a moment.

“I had the pass picked off,” Duck defenseman Jason York said. “It bounced off my stick, right through my legs and right on that guy’s stick.”

That guy was Mike Eastwood, who slipped behind York and barreled into the Duck zone to score the game-winner 13 minutes 32 seconds into the third period.

Words that Duck fans have heard too often.

“We’re close,” as General Manager Pierre Gauthier has uttered on a few occasions.

Sure they are. The Ducks are proud that they have a near .500 record (17-19-4-3) since Dec. 1. But nine other Western Conference teams have better records in that time, including the Blues.

St. Louis didn’t waste breaks. They hit like their season depended on it. They smothered the Ducks in the third period, allowing only four shots.

Murray didn’t even wait for a question after the game.

“All the good we’ve been doing didn’t happen tonight,” said Murray, whose team is 10-6-1 in its last 17 games. “If our good players don’t play better than that, we don’t win.”

The core of Murray’s frustration is a power play that is consistent.

Consistently bad. The Ducks are last in the NHL on the power play. They have one goal in their last 25 chances.

“Sometimes your job is to simply loft it at the net,” Murray said. “If you don’t get the perfect slap shot, that’s fine, just get it through the net.”

But the Ducks with a man-advantage are an accident waiting to happen. And it happened.

The Ducks were leading, 2-1, when Alexander Khavanov was sent off on a five-minute major for elbowing Andy McDonald. The Ducks got one shot. The Blues got one goal.

Jeff Finley skated circles around two Duck players, then fed Dallas Drake in the slot. Drake had all the time he needed to line up his game-tying goal.

“It was ugly,” Duck captain Paul Kariya said. “It’s 2-1 there. If we get a goal, it makes them really desperate. On a five-minute power play, you should just be bombing away and we’re not doing that.”

The Ducks lost a 1-0 first-period lead on a bad bounce. Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere easily deflected a Mike Van Ryn shot.

However, the puck hit defenseman Keith Carney and bounced into the net.

The Ducks lost a 2-1 lead when they flailed and failed on the second period power play.

The Ducks lost the game when York lost Eastwood.

“A defense in neutral zone can never let a forward get behind him,” Murray said. “That’s the golden rule in hockey.”

Of course, the hockey lore also holds that a team with a man-advantage actually has an advantage. The Ducks had four power plays, during which they managed just two shots.

“What else is new, huh?” defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “We tried to make fancy plays in the neutral zone instead of getting the puck in.”