Ozolinsh Passes Up on Self-Evaluation

Cross-check him in the back. Make him skate laps. Just don’t ask Sandis Ozolinsh to assess how he’s playing.

“I do not know. I do not watch the games,” the Latvian-born defenseman said Sunday after scoring the Mighty Ducks’ only goal in a 1-1 tie with the Minnesota Wild. “I’m my worst critic. I’ll take the Fifth Amendment.”

And how does he know the U.S. Constitution well enough to offer that excuse?

“Watching way too much CNN,” he said.

Coach Mike Babcock summed up Ozolinsh’s game as “risk and reward,” a polite way of acknowledging Ozolinsh’s play on defense hasn’t been great. But Babcock said he’s sure Ozolinsh will be steadier.

“I remember the guy who was a gamebreaker the second half of last year, the guy who made the right decisions,” Babcock said of Ozolinsh, who has four goals, 13 points and a minus-one plus/minus rating. “Sometimes you’ve got to be a little patient.... I think you’re really going to see Ozo take off.”

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The Ducks are 0-7-3-1 in games in which their opponent has scored first. They also haven’t won a game in which they’ve trailed after the first period. They’re 0-6-1-0 in those games.... In playing their fifth consecutive overtime road game, the Ducks tied an NHL record shared by many teams.

-- Helene Elliott