Ducks Let One Get Away

It may not be time to push the panic button but the Mighty Ducks better get their act together soon or they’ll be sweating it out to make the playoffs.

The slumping Ducks blew a great chance to move up to sixth place in the Western Conference when they lost to the lowly Atlanta Thrashers, 4-1, Sunday at the Arrowhead Pond.

Anaheim dropped to 3-5-1 over its last eight games, which is not the direction a team wants to be headed in the final playoff drive.

“We’re turning it over too much in the neutral zone,” veteran forward Adam Oates said about the Ducks’ offense, which has scored only four goals in its last four games.

“We’re a much better team when we can get it deep and get on teams by getting all five guys into the zone. We want to push the pace but still have containment, but when you’re turning it over in the neutral zone, you are not allowing that to happen.”

The Thrashers, who lost to the Kings at Staples Center on Saturday and have the third-worst record in the NHL, won because of a strong effort from Milan Hnilicka, who finished with 29 saves, and timely goals from Vyacheslav Kozlov and Frantisek Kaberle.

But Atlanta also was helped by the Ducks, who hurt themselves by trying to make too many fancy plays instead of basic ones in front of an announced crowd of 15,451.

“We weren’t getting the puck to the net enough and getting second and third opportunities,” said captain Paul Kariya, who had a team-high four shots on goal against the Thrashers.

“When things are not going in offensively, you need to jam the puck and get it to the net. We haven’t been doing that.”

Anaheim started the game with the NHL’s best penalty-killing unit, with successful stops in 33 of its previous 35 short-handed situations. But the Ducks were not up for their first penalty-killing challenge Sunday.

With defenseman Niclas Havelid in the penalty box for high-sticking, the Ducks were a little soft in their own zone and Kozlov jumped all over a rebound outside the crease and beat goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to give the Thrashers a 1-0 lead 4:47 into the first period.

It was only the fourth power-play goal the Ducks have given up in their last 12 games.

The Ducks, who have the league’s No.1-rated faceoff team, lost a key draw midway through the second period and it ended up costing them a goal.

Anaheim center Samuel Pahlsson, who entered the game with a whopping 72.2% winning percentage this season, lost a faceoff to Patrik Stefan and the puck ended up on Kaberle’s stick.

From the top of the right circle, Kaberle took advantage of the bodies between him and the front of the Ducks’ net by beating Giguere high to his glove side to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead at 7:53.

Trailing by two goals, the Ducks stepped up their pace and gave the Thrashers some of their own treatment with heavy traffic in front of Hnilicka.

Anaheim’s physical line of Marc Chouinard, Lance Ward and rookie Alexei Smirnov got things going with major pressure in the Thrashers’ zone but somehow Hnilicka kept the puck out of the net. He wasn’t so fortunate the next time.

With each team playing with a man in the penalty box, defenseman Ruslan Salei cut Atlanta’s lead to 2-1 with a rocket shot from the left circle that was in the net before Hnilicka could lift his glove at 15:51.

In the third period, the Thrashers became more defensive-minded and did a good job of keeping the Ducks on the perimeter. But Anaheim still had plenty of opportunities to tie the score.

Patric Kjellberg and Pahlsson had good looks and so did Havelid, Kariya, Jason Krog and Petr Sykora. But no matter how hard they tried, the Ducks could not score against Hnilicka, who finished with eight saves in the third period to win for only the third time this season.

The Thrashers, who won for only the second time at the Pond, got empty-net goals in the final minute from forwards Lubos Bartecko and Kozlov.