Ducks are close in return

Judging by the loud ovation he received when his name was announced in the starting lineup, Scott Niedermayer was indeed the center of attention Sunday night in his first game back with the Ducks.

Niedermayer’s poise under pressure was welcomed heartily by an often rudderless team and his sense for the dramatic nearly produced another heroic moment at the Honda Center.

Nearly.

Instead of his shot finding the net in overtime, Niedermayer hit the post and the San Jose Sharks went six rounds in the ensuing shootout to outlast the Ducks, 2-1, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174.

The script was set up for a Hollywood ending when Niedermayer ended his three-month sabbatical away from hockey by stepping right in the lineup and coming inches away from adding to his NHL record for overtime goals by a defenseman.

His wrist shot from the slot with 26.3 seconds left had San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov beat but it deflected off the left post and bounced in the crease, where the Sharks’ Joe Thornton cleared the puck out before it trickled past the goal line.

“It kind of hit the post and dribbled into that guy,” Niedermayer said. “Close call.”

A shootout was only fitting. Sixty-five minutes just aren’t enough to decide a game between these Pacific Division contenders.

The Sharks scored three times on Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the extra round, putting to rest a streak in which Giguere hadn’t been scored on in 11 consecutive tries. Thornton got the clinching goal after the Ducks’ Todd Bertuzzi and Corey Perry had appeared to put them in position for a third consecutive shootout win against the Sharks.

And so San Jose moved back into a tie for first with Dallas while the Ducks (15-15-5) missed a chance at gaining more ground. But this was just the beginning of a three-game set with the Sharks over seven days, with the next two in San Jose on Tuesday and Saturday. The Ducks also have a Wednesday home game against Colorado.

“It’s a big week for our team,” Giguere said. “Obviously division games are the biggest. And when you see the same team three times in a week, every period is important. There’s six more periods against them this week and they’re going to be huge.”

If a third consecutive home defeat can ever be considered a step forward, this one was it for Anaheim.

Giguere bounced back with a strong 36-save performance that included a stop on a penalty shot by Milan Michalek after his worst game of the season in Friday’s 5-2 loss to Minnesota. Torrey Mitchell got the only regulation goal while short-handed after taking the puck away from Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

There was also an immediate contribution by their other recent additions. Center Doug Weight, acquired from St. Louis late Friday for Andy McDonald, displayed his passing skills in his Anaheim debut when he zipped a cross-ice feed to Bobby Ryan, who was recalled from the minor leagues Saturday.

Ryan one-timed it past Nabokov, giving the Ducks a 1-0 lead for the first time in 13 games dating back to Nov. 21 in Dallas.

“The guys have been talking before the game about getting the lead,” Weight said. “It was nice to get that one and see Bobby score.”

And then there was Niedermayer, who played 23 minutes 52 seconds in his first game since the Ducks’ Game 5 triumph against Ottawa to win the Stanley Cup.

The best example of his impact showed up in penalty killing. Without Niedermayer two nights before, the Ducks allowed four power-play goals to Minnesota in the second period. With him Sunday, they didn’t allow any in eight Sharks chances.

“He’s not going to do everything on his own,” Giguere said. “But if everybody works around him, he’s going to make everybody better. That’s just the type of player he is. He’s just an exceptional talent.

“He makes me better, that’s for sure.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com