Ducks’ Splashy Start Sinks Fast

No longer needing Disney’s direction on the art of putting on a show, the Mighty Ducks still knew how to turn up the theatrics for their home opener Monday night.

The new-look Ducks may have entered the ice in style in front of an energetic crowd, but they also showed they still have work to do to develop substance along with their flash.

Radek Dvorak spoiled the festivities by scoring the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as Edmonton scored three times on the power play in a 4-2 victory at the Arrowhead Pond.

Throughout training camp and into the season, Duck Coach Randy Carlyle stressed the need to refrain from taking penalties and giving the opponents repeated man-advantage situations particularly as referees are under orders to call a tighter game.

The message apparently hasn’t yet resonated. The Oilers had eight chances and illuminated the red lamp on three of them, including Dvorak’s winner at 8:20 of the third. Raffi Torres added an empty-net goal.

“That’s a trait that we want to eliminate,” Carlyle said. “It’s a combination of us trying to get too cute in the neutral ice and it leads to turnovers. When you have four or five shifts in a row of playing defense, it usually leads to some kind of a penalty.”

Charged up by their entrance to smoke and lights, the Ducks got off to a roaring start for the third consecutive game. Even thought they were a number of empty seats among the announced sellout crowd of 17,174, they were into the game as the Ducks peppered Edmonton goaltender Jussi Markannen.

Teemu Selanne, in his first regular-season home game as a Duck since the 2000-01 season, scored as he used the Oilers’ Marty Reasoner as a screen and deflected a shot off the center and into the net for his second goal in the early season.

Corey Perry then scored his first NHL goal at 11:06 by putting in a rebound of a blast from the point by defenseman Jason Marshall. Perry had an assist in each of the first two games and became the first Duck to begin his career with points in three consecutive games.

Perry, a first-round pick in 2003, wasn’t a sure bet to make the team but he clinched a roster spot with a strong camp after dominating the junior ranks last year.

The Ducks continued another disturbing trend, though, experiencing another second-period letdown after an impressive first 20 minutes. They took penalties and didn’t help goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Edmonton turned its play up several notches in scoring two power-play goals to tie the score. Torres deflected a shot by Jarret Stoll into the net at 1:13 after a boarding penalty by Vitali Vishnevski at the end of the first period.

The Oilers then converted with Reasoner at 13:22 after Scott Niedermayer’s holding penalty.

Giguere made a save on a shot by Chris Pronger, but Reasoner pounced on the rebound and scored as the Ducks failed to keep the center out of the crease.

“I think we just stopped skating,” Selanne said. “We had a really good first period and we just stopped after that. We know we can’t do that.”

After going the final 17 minutes without a shot on goal in the first period, Edmonton put 17 shots on Giguere and forced the goalie to make a number of good saves.

Carlyle saw fit to deliver some pointed remarks during the second break between periods, but it didn’t stop the Oilers from winning their third in a row to start the season.

“We just seemed to sit back on [the lead],” he said.

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The Ducks sent rookie forward Dustin Penner to their minor league affiliate in Portland, Maine. Penner made the opening-night roster but did not suit up in either of the two games.

“It’s just a situation where he wasn’t going to play here,” Carlyle said. “It does nobody any good if he’s not playing.” ... Forward Jonathan Hedstrom played for the first time this season after missing two games because of a strained right groin.