Ducks miss their chance

The Ducks knew that goals would be tough to come by Tuesday night, but that was on the assumption that Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo would be in his customary place in net and not parked on the Canucks’ bench with a baseball cap on.

In the All-Star’s usual spot stood little-used Dany Sabourin, who has played all of 12 NHL games and had gone winless in six previous appearances this season. Not that it mattered to the hard-luck Ducks.

Sabourin was the latest youngster to look like a Hall of Famer against the Pacific Division leaders and the surging Canucks capitalized on their opportunities as they won, 3-2, on Daniel Sedin’s overtime power-play goal at the Honda Center.

In playing their third consecutive overtime game, the first-place Ducks (35-16-10) earned a point and are now seven ahead of San Jose and Dallas. But another point was snatched away from them by a team that’s nothing like the one they defeated twice in November.

Vancouver (35-21-4) has taken the lead in the ultra-competitive Northwest Division, thanks to an 18-3-3 stretch since Dec. 26.

“I thought they battled real hard tonight,” Ducks center Andy McDonald said. “We knew ahead of time that they’d been playing well. They were seven points back [of us] before the game so they’re a good hockey team.”

Luongo, who was signed by the Canucks for $27 million to be their franchise goalie, had all of Vancouver’s 34 victories, but Coach Alain Vigneault opted to give his workhorse a rare rest after 11 consecutive starts.

Sabourin was given center stage and he was a star on this night.

Far from steady in the net, the Canucks’ backup also made some improbable stops among his 38 saves and frustrated the Ducks, who’ve been beaten in recent games by Dallas rookie Mike Smith and second-year Colorado goalie Peter Budaj.

“He’s showed us the whole season that when he plays, he plays good,” Sedin said.

The Ducks, in getting goals from Tim Brent and Chris Kunitz, have been limited to two or fewer regulation goals in seven of their last 10 games.

“The most difficult part is to not get down on it,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “Goal scoring is down for our group right now, but I think that’ll change if we continue to get the number of chances we’ve been [getting]. You work hard enough and you’ll earn your bounces.”

Right now, those bounces are going against them.

After Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer went to the penalty box for hooking, Canucks defenseman Sami Salo took a shot from the point that slammed high off the glass above the end board.

The puck ricocheted out in front of Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere to where Sedin was standing and the Swedish winger slammed in his 26th goal to the dismay of a standing-room-only crowd of 17,467.

“I didn’t know where the puck was going to be,” Giguere said. “It was going wide on the shot. I wasn’t sure where the rebound was going to go and it ended up right on his stick.”

Kunitz had given the Ducks a 2-1 lead when his power-play goal was deflected in by Vancouver defenseman Willie Mitchell in the final seconds of the second period. But the Canucks’ Markus Naslund tied the game on another bad break.

Ducks defenseman Joe DiPenta tried to clear his zone and McDonald inadvertently batted the puck up into the air. Chris Pronger was back and let the puck drop, but Naslund snatched it as it hit the ice and went around the defenseman before putting a wrist shot past Giguere.

“Sometimes those things don’t go your way and that’s what happened here tonight,” Carlyle said.

Brent, who was called up from the minor leagues Monday, scored his first NHL goal when he jammed in a rebound in the first period.

eric.stephens@latimes.com