Ducks’ Downtrend Continues in Detroit

All the sound bites were there for the Mighty Ducks afterward.

This is getting more urgent.

You’ve got to play 60 minutes.

We need some confidence.

The Ducks crossed another day off the calendar Saturday, marking it with a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings in front of 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena. That brought the same old words to describe the same old situation.

The Red Wings dominated more than half the game (urgency).

Defenseman Ruslan Salei made a key gaffe that led to the go-ahead goal in the third period (play 60 minutes).

The Ducks never came close to scoring again (confidence).

Salei’s turnover led to a Brendan Shanahan goal 1 minute 54 seconds into the third period. Kirk Maltby then clinched the game by deflecting a shot past goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere 16:39 into the period.

That left the Ducks right where they started the evening, 13th in the Western Conference.

“You have to get yourself in the top eight [of the conference],” Coach Mike Babcock said. “We’re not in the top eight. We’re not close to the top eight. If you think you’re going to get in [the playoffs] in the last week, that’s not going to happen. You got to start now.”

A tall order.

The Ducks ended a 2-3 road trip by wasting a nearly pristine effort by Giguere, who missed the previous two games because of a groin injury. He stopped 38 of 41 shots, a reminder to Red Wing fans of why their team was bounced from the playoffs by the Ducks last spring.

The way things are shaping up, the Red Wings won’t have to fret about seeing Giguere again in May, something that is becoming more of a worry in the Duck dressing room.

“It’s been urgent time since this road trip started,” Salei said. “It’s just getting more urgent. We’re not on a winning streak.”

The Ducks had a chance to steal a victory. They took a 1-1 tie into the third period after Andy McDonald swatted in a goal after the puck took a pinball-like route to the net.

That lasted less than two minutes.

Salei went behind the net with the puck and never saw Ray Whitney coming. Whitney took the puck away and fed Shanahan in the face-off circle. Giguere never had a chance.

“If I saw him coming, I wouldn’t have reversed it,” Salei said. “I thought he was chasing me. I should know better.”

That sent Giguere out a loser, despite continuing to play as well as he did anytime last season. He has given up eight goals in his last six starts. Yet, he has a 2-4 record in that stretch.

“I’m definitely making better saves and I have kept the team in the game,” Giguere said. “Now it is up to me to find a way to win. You are only as good as how many wins you have. Obviously, I have too few of those.

“As far as the team is concerned, when you don’t play 60 minutes, you’re not going to win.”

Giguere put in his time. His teammates showed up late.

The Red Wings, tops in goals scored in the NHL, outshot the Ducks, 29-8, through the first 30 minutes.

“It seems like in the first period, we didn’t even skate,” Salei said. “You don’t skate against that team, they make all the nice plays and make you look silly.”

Giguere, though, was up to that hefty workload, stopping all but one shot through two periods.

Tomas Holmstrom took a pass at the red line, burst into the Duck zone and let loose a rocket of a shot from the face-off circle into the net. That gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 13:16 into the first period.

Giguere continued under heavy pressure but looked exactly like the goalie that snuffed out the Red Wings’ playoff hopes last spring. That included a 40-second stretch in the second period when the Ducks couldn’t clear the puck from their zone.

“If not for him, it was going to be embarrassing for us,” Salei said.

In the end, it wasn’t embarrassing. It was just another loss.

“We need to get it going,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We need to start getting some confidence, in our team and in each other.”