Another Loss Dazes Ducks

The Mighty Ducks reached the postgame, players-only team meeting portion of the season that all struggling teams eventually reach.

Even at that the Ducks were not quite up to snuff Saturday.

On the ice, the Ducks seemed dazed as to how they blew a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. The malaise of three months seeped into the dressing room, as a brief closed-door meeting among players produced more bewilderment.

“You could see we were all frustrated,” defenseman Kurt Sauer said. “You looked around the room and everyone was quiet. We just had a lot of these games.”

The Panthers added to that list in a way that pleased the announced crowd of 18,007 at the Office Depot Center and had to damage the Ducks’ psyche.

Florida erased a 2-0 Duck lead in the second period. Olli Jokinen then added the coup de grace with a power-play goal 9 minutes 28 seconds into the third period.

That left the Ducks winless in 13 consecutive road games, with four more games on the trip. They have an 0-8-2-3 road record since beating Washington on Oct. 29.

“Every team that sees us coming has to say, ‘Hey, we got to jump on these guys,’ ” Coach Mike Babcock said. “We have to fight through this.”

The solution seems a difficult brainteaser for coach and players alike.

“We’ve got to win some games,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We’ve got to get some confidence.”

Babcock concurred.

“It’s a huge danger right now,” Babcock said. “But like anything, you’ve got to earn confidence.”

“It hurts,” said goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who was exceptional, stopping 37 of 40 shots, including all 16 in the first period.

“When you’re up 2-0 in this league, you should find a way to win. The guys on the other side kept battling and kept coming up to us. I don’t know what happened.”

Some light could be shed on how it happened Saturday.

Carney and Sauer went behind the net, trying to get the puck. Instead, Florida’s Viktor Kozlov poked the puck free and Jokinen chipped a shot just under the crossbar.

“Kurt thought the guy had me tied up and he could get to the puck,” Carney said. “I don’t how they ended up with the puck back there.”

Said Sauer: “Carney had separated the puck from the guy, at least I thought he did.”

There was more for the Ducks to be dazed and confused about.

Craig Johnson’s determination got the Ducks a 1-0 lead 9:26 into the first period. Sergei Fedorov made it 2-0 at 4:22 into the second by jamming in a slick pass from Vitaly Vishnevski. Considering the Ducks had scored five goals in their last five games, this was fire wagon hockey.

Then they got scorched.

Former Duck Matt Cullen chipped in a rebound for the Panthers a minute after Fedorov’s goal.

Marcus Nilson then tied the score, after the Ducks were left short-handed when Carney broke his stick with less than a minute left. Nilson redirected a shot off the right post, then swept in the ricochet with 26 seconds left in the period.

“Any time you’re up 2-0 on the road, any time you’re up 2-0, you’ve got to win the game,” Babcock said.