Focus Is on Recovering Lost Ground

There are 27 games left.

Probably too few for them to reach their high expectations. Too many for them to endure if they continue on the low road.

Last season, the Mighty Ducks reached the All-Star break on the fly, with a 22-18-7-4 record and an inner confidence that allowed them to push toward a playoff spot and beyond.

This season, they are 11 points from a playoff spot and nine points from last place in the Western Conference. Making up the ground, which would require jumping over five teams, is a daunting task.

“We’re just going to break the season down into five-game segments and hope that we can inch forward,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “We dug ourselves a hole, now we need to help ourselves. We also need help from others.”

To do that, Babcock will try to locate the team’s heart and focus that made the Ducks formidable opponents last season.

But then it might be a trying two months for everyone.

Mike Leclerc, who returns to the lineup this week after recovering from off-season knee surgery, will try to get back to the form that made him one of the Ducks’ key players the last two seasons.

Rob Niedermayer (groin injury) and Sandis Ozolinsh (shoulder surgery) will be trying to get better.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere will be trying to find the skill and will that took him, and the Ducks, through the Stanley Cup playoffs last season.

And General Manager Bryan Murray will be trying to resist the temptation to jettison some of his high-priced talent.

“I expect [the players] to continue to work real hard, to play and win some games,” Murray said. “That’s what my desire is. I certainly think we have the ability to have a good finish to this year, and I’m expecting that to be the case.”

Why things haven’t been so good so far is clear to Murray.

“I don’t think we’ve played consistently as hard as we’re capable of,” Murray said. “We demonstrate that occasionally, when we beat Colorado and Philadelphia and Toronto and then don’t beat some of the other teams that beat us on work ethic. That’s been the biggest disappointment.”

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Forward Petr Schastlivy, acquired from Ottawa by the Ducks for defenseman Todd Simpson, will not join the team until Friday in Calgary. Schastlivy is Russian and his visa allows him to play only in Canada or for a Canadian team in the United States.

Duck officials say they expect Schastlivy to receive a visa to play in the United States for the Ducks by the weekend.

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The Ducks recalled forward Cam Severson from minor league Cincinnati.... Forward Chris Kunitz probably will be recalled after his appearance in the American Hockey League All-Star game Monday.... Babcock said forward Michael Holmqvist, out nine games because of an abdominal injury, should return to the lineup Wednesday.