Duck Home Debut Raises a Red Flag

There was a lofty symbol hanging from the rafters, and then there was cold ice-level truth for the Mighty Ducks on Sunday.

The Ducks raised the Western Conference championship banner before the game, a deviation from past seasons, in which they typically have raised the white flag, then raised ticket prices. That changed last spring.

But as for the expectations that come with that defending-champion nametag, the Ducks have yet to reach those heights.

Phoenix’s 2-0 victory in the Ducks’ home opener in front of 17,174 at the Arrowhead Pond completed Anaheim’s season-opening hat trick: three games, three false starts.

“Everyone on this team has to look in the mirror,” team captain Steve Rucchin said.

Coach Mike Babcock would be satisfied if his team took a gander at the opposition Sunday.

The Coyotes were relentless from the start, converted a turnover into Ladislav Nagy’s power-play goal, then let goaltender Sean Burke protect that lead until Daymond Langkow tucked in an empty-net goal with five seconds left.

Simple and basic.

“It looked to me like we got Ducked,” Babcock said. “They were prepared off the start, scored a goal and rode it hard. It was just a bunch of guys working hard, playing well together, and they got great goaltending. That’s what I thought we were supposed to be about.

“We got Ducked. They looked like us, coming in doing what they do and leaving with points.”

The Ducks, meanwhile, left with an 0-3 start to their season. There were plenty of questions -- such as how does a team with Sergei Fedorov, Petr Sykora, Vaclav Prospal and Sandis Ozolinsh score only two goals in three games?

“I’m not putting it on the players, obviously this is my job to get them prepared,” Babcock said. “The reality is, ‘Wake up fellas, the year has started.’ ”

The you-snooze-you-lose theme became a stump speech afterward.

“The only explanation is we have to be more prepared,” Rucchin said. “Teams will look at us differently this year. We have to compete and play hard. When you just put forth the effort in the third period, who cares?”

Instead, the Ducks snoozed through the first period, getting outshot, 17-8.

Last season, the Ducks averaged 11.6 penalty minutes per game. That has jumped to 21 after Sunday’s game. Worse, they have given up three-power play goals in three games.

Nagy did the honors Sunday. With Prospal off for hooking, Samuel Pahlsson turned over the puck. Shane Doan then fed a cross-ice pass to Nagy, whose wrist shot beat goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere 8 minutes 54 seconds into the game.

Even that did little to stir the Ducks, who played with little passion until the final seven minutes. They had three power plays through two periods and had one shot on goal to show for them.

A third-period power play was more productive, with the Ducks getting four quality scoring chances. But Burke, who made 31 saves, was up to that late rush right to the finish.

Stanislav Chistov found himself alone in the slot with the puck and let loose a blur, only to have Burke make a chest save with 44 seconds left. Chistov skated past Burke, holding both hands to his head.

He wasn’t the only one with an early-season migraine.

“Sure we came on, sure we had quality chances, but they don’t go in the net when you cheat,” Babcock said. “We cheated tonight.

“It’s an amazing game. If you play hard for 60 minutes and are desperate through the whole thing, even if you’re down, 1-0, the hockey gods have a way to reward the hard-working team.”

There will likely be a lesson in that when the Ducks return to work Tuesday, after a day off to massage their psyche. Then Ottawa, the favorite in the Eastern Conference, comes to town Friday.

“It’s going to give us a little motivation in practice,” said Giguere, who stopped 26 of 27 shots. “Our next practice we definitely have to come out hard and like it’s a game. It’s going to start right there. If we want to start turning things around, we got to start Tuesday.”