Pressed, so Ducks Fold

There seems to be nothing as precarious as a two-goal lead by the Mighty Ducks.

There is certainly nothing more frustrating and, possibly so damaging, as the rerun of events that played at the Arrowhead Pond recently.

The Ducks had a victory picked from their back pocket for the second time in as many games. The Phoenix Coyotes scored two goals in the final two minutes of regulation to salvage a 2-2 tie in front of an announced 11,386 Wednesday.

Brian Savage knocked in a goal at 18 minutes 27 seconds. Daniel Briere then finished off a two-on-one rush, whipping a shot past goalie Martin Gerber with 45 seconds to go.

This was the second time in as many games that the Ducks lost a victory in the closing seconds. It was the fourth time this season that they have wasted a two-goal lead in the third period.

“When you’re up two with under five minutes left, that’s game over,” said team captain Paul Kariya, who nearly won the game in overtime with two blistering shots on one play.

A recent amendment seems to exclude the Ducks from that rule of thumb.

On Sunday, they let a 4-2 lead slip away in a 4-4 tie with Florida. On Wednesday, the outcome was the same, the scenario a little more painful.

Celebrating a gritty victory was close at hand. Adam Oates returned to the lineup and assisted on the Ducks’ first goal. Pavel Trnka gave the Ducks the lead 7:34 into the third period. Kariya’s power-play goal at 12:15 seemed to seal it. Gerber was having a solid night in his first start since Oct. 28.

But the Ducks were skating on thin ice and knew it as soon as Savage chipped his shot at the net. Defenseman Keith Carney had fallen on the play. The puck then went off Duck defenseman Kurt Sauer and into the net.

“Keith Carney doesn’t fall down very often,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “You can tell by the panic level by our team as soon as they got one goal, that we haven’t done enough winning.”

Events overtook the Ducks.

Andy McDonald raced up ice to prevent an icing call with less than a minute left. Too many of his teammates had an up-close view of that effort, having drifted too far up ice.

Moments later, Landon Wilson and Briere had a two-on-one rush. Wilson passed to Briere, who redirected the puck for a goal.

The Ducks cried foul.

“The [play on] their tying goal was offside by two feet,” Babcock said. “When you watch that on video that frustrates the living hell out of you. A goal being offside, that’s unacceptable that can happen at this level.”

There was a bigger issue.

“How do you get a two-on-one?” Kariya said. “That’s bad hockey. We outplayed them.”

Oates, who had missed 15 games with a broken left hand, was a big part of that effort. He got back to doing what he does best, setting up goals. This assist -- No. 1,031 of his career -- wasn’t one for the scrapbook, but it was significant.

Oates took a pass from Matt Cullen, then nudged the puck out to Trnka at the blue line. Trnka whipped a wrist shot that went off Phoenix’s Deron Quint and slid under Brian Boucher’s pads.

Kariya than scored off a pass from Steve Rucchin and all seemed well ... including Oates’ hand.

“The hand felt fine,” Oates said. “I’m pretty pumped about it actually.”