Ducks Left Frustrated

Teemu Selanne had seemingly put the finishing touches on a spirited rally by the Mighty Ducks, slamming his stick in his imaginary holster after beating Minnesota Wild goalie Manny Fernandez to give them an early lead in the shootout.

The first year of the shootout, however, has proven to be an exciting way to end games. The Ducks have yet to benefit from the new crowd-pleasing exercise.

Mikko Koivu and Randy Robitaille scored on the following two tries against goalie JeanSebastien Giguere and the Ducks misfired on their final two, giving Minnesota a 4-3 victory Sunday at the Arrowhead Pond.

It marked the second shootout loss for the Ducks and left them with an empty feeling after rallying from a two-goal deficit and getting two goals from rookie forward Ryan Getzlaf.

“It’s a hard thing to sell to your team,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “In reality, we didn’t lose the game. We lost a point.”

The Wild won despite being outshot, 42-21, including 17-4 in the second period and 6-1 in the five-minute overtime.

“Absolutely, you feel like you stole a point,” Minnesota center Brian Rolston said. “It comes down to six shots and we got it done tonight.”

The loss spoiled a breakout game for Getzlaf, the Ducks’ first selection in the 2003 draft. At 15:08 of the second period, he finished their three-goal uprising by flipping a backhand over Fernandez’s shoulder for the first two-goal game of his career.

Getzlaf was rewarded by getting the third and final try in the shootout. Needing to score to match Robitaille’s successful shot, he pushed his attempt wide right and disappointed the announced crowd of 14,053 that stood in anticipation.

“You just try to relax when you’re going down on a breakaway,” Getzlaf said. “It didn’t go well for me this time.”

Selanne had a frustrating time finding the back of the net as he missed a wide-open net twice and was foiled by Fernandez on a breakaway.

It didn’t keep him from being productive. After Stephane Veilleux gave the Wild a 3-1 second-period lead, Selanne took the puck from Minnesota defenseman Filip Kuba in the Wild zone and dropped it back to Getzlaf, who beat Fernandez with a low slap shot.

Selanne leads the team with 18 points, 11 of them coming in the last seven games.

“Teemu obviously was getting a little frustrated not putting the puck on his few chances, but he’s still playing great,” Getzlaf said. “Any time you’re getting chances, it means you’re playing.”

For the third consecutive game, the Ducks played a sluggish first period.

Rolston caught them napping as he scored on a breakaway 2:12 into the contest. Koivu made it 2-0 with his first NHL goal as he beat Giguere on the stick side at 17:35.

“We wanted to have a good start and we were terrible in the first period again,” Selanne said.

With the team needing a lift, Carlyle sent out center Zenon Konopka near the end of the first and the rookie began to mix it up with anyone wearing a Wild sweater.

Konopka gave the Ducks a jump-start when he netted the first goal of his career to start the second-period rally.

“With [Zenon], we know what we’re going to get day in and day out,” Carlyle said. “He’s a cheerleader, he’s a hard guy to play against and he’ll do anything possible within his means to help you win a hockey game.”