Vishnevski’s Playing Time Dwindles

Questions surrounding Duck defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski’s status remain.

Vishnevski, a physical defenseman who would seem to be a natural choice against a physical team like New Jersey, said he is sound.

Coach Mike Babcock said he is sound.

Duck team officials said he is sound.

Yet Vishnevski’s minutes have plummeted.

He played only 3 minutes 44 seconds in Game 4, and only one shift after being leveled behind the Duck net. He played 8:47 Thursday in Game 5, the fewest of the Ducks’ six defensemen. Most of that was in the third period, when the game was out of hand.

Babcock said it was a coaching decision.

“What you try to do this time of the year is you play the people in the right situations as much as you possibly can,” Babcock said.

Vishnevski said playing time takes a back seat to the greater goal.

“I play when the coach tells me to play,” Vishnevski said. “I do my best when I’m on the ice. All that matters at this time of the year is winning the Stanley Cup.”

Keith Carney, Sandis Ozolinsh, Ruslan Salei, Niclas Havelid and Kurt Sauer -- the Ducks’ other defensemen -- all played more than 20 minutes Thursday.

Fredrik Olausson and Lance Ward did not play.

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Babcock compared the Ducks’ problems in New Jersey to an automobile accident he had a few years back.

“I went to go to the lake and I can remember coming around the corner too fast and running into a deer,” Babcock said. “That’s exactly what we looked like three times in New Jersey, like that deer when I was about to hit it. A deer in the headlights. I don’t know why that is. We want to have one more chance at fixing that.”

Babcock said he relayed that story to the team.

Center Adam Oates said, smiling: “He tells us a lot of stories.”

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This season’s highest-paid players who have never won a Stanley Cup:

St. Louis’ Keith Tkachuk, $11 million; the Ducks’ Paul Kariya, $10 million; the New York Rangers’ Pavel Bure, $10 million; the Rangers’ Bobby Holik, $9.6 million; St. Louis’ Chris Pronger, $9.5 million; Philadelphia’s John LeClair, $9 million; Toronto’s Mats Sundin, $9 million.

Tkachuk, Bure, Pronger and Sundin have never played in the Cup final.

The NHL’s highest paid players who have won a Cup:

Washington’s Jaromir Jagr, $11.5 million; Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom, $10.5 million; Colorado’s Joe Sakic, $9.9 million; the Rangers’ Brian Leetch $9.7 million; Colorado’s Peter Forsberg, $9.5 million; Colorado’s Rob Blake, $9.3 million.

Jagr won his Cup with Pittsburgh.

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Petr Sykora scored 42 seconds into Thursday’s game, his first goal against his former team in seven games this season.