Canucks’ 3-2 Win Fuels Ducks’ Losing Streak

Scott Niedermayer came to the Mighty Ducks in part to experience something new after 13 seasons with the New Jersey Devils, three of which ended in hoisting the Stanley Cup.

The Duck captain hasn’t faced a situation quite like the one he and his teammates continue to struggle with. They dropped their eighth game in a row Sunday, a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at the Arrowhead Pond.

Their losing streak ties the club’s longest mark, set from Oct. 12 to Oct. 30, 1996. At least they’re not the Florida Panthers, who have lost 11 in a row.

None of that matters at the moment to Niedermayer, who left a perennial championship contender to sign with the Ducks as a free agent and play alongside his brother, Rob.

“We just have to deal with the situation at the present time,” Niedermayer said. “This is a good test, a good challenge. We made some good efforts, but there is more we can do, I guess.”

Sami Salo’s second goal of the game at 12:12 of the third broke a tie in a choppy contest that featured 33 minor penalties.

Trevor Linden took the first penalty shot of his 18-year career, but even he didn’t think this was what the NHL had in mind when the league told referees to crack down on hooking and holding.

“I’ve seen a lot of great games this season,” Linden said. “This wasn’t one of them.”

Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere left a game for the third time this season when he aggravated a sore left hamstring in the first period. Giguere came out after giving up Salo’s first goal at 15:05 on a power play.

Vancouver’s Dan Cloutier made 25 saves, surviving the Ducks’ tactic of crashing the net.

“He was the difference, I thought, tonight,” Canuck Coach Marc Crawford said. “His play was combative and competitive.”

Andy McDonald and Rob Niedermayer ended extended streaks without a goal, with Niedermayer’s tally 47 seconds into the third tying the score, 2-2. Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves in relief of Giguere.

As in the previous seven games, it wasn’t enough.

“Good fortune is not on our side,” said Bryzgalov, whose record dropped to 1-7-0. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do. We practice hard, we play hard, we want to win. The wins aren’t coming.”

Vancouver got a break at the end of the second period when Linden was awarded a penalty shot after referee Dan O’Rourke ruled that Keith Carney hooked him when he went in on a breakaway.

It was a call Carney said he didn’t think was worth a penalty much less a penalty shot. Duck Coach Randy Carlyle, already fined $10,000 last month for criticizing officials, worked his away around the calls.

“It’s not up to me to make comments based on what’s good or bad,” he said. “I have my personal views, but I really don’t have a comment I’d like to make public.”

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Goalie Michael Wall was sent to minor-league Portland, Maine, before the game, but it’s likely that he will again be recalled because of Giguere’s injury.