Ducks wobble toward break

Like a signpost on a deserted highway that reads a rest stop is still miles away, the Ducks see the All-Star break in the distance and are trying to make it there without any more parts falling off.

Another defeat Tuesday night, this one a 5-4 decision to the Nashville Predators in overtime, only showed that the Ducks are limping along.

Somehow, they managed a point but lost a chance at two when Steve Sullivan ended it at the 3:12 mark of overtime to send the sparse crowd of 11,821 at Gaylord Entertainment Center into a frenzy. It is what the Ducks will take out of their fifth defeat in six games.

“They’re a good team,” forward Todd Marchant said. “They’re leading the Central Division for a reason. We got a point. Would we have wanted two points? For sure. But it’s better than no points.”

There were a fair share of positives. Dustin Penner had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kunitz got only his second goal in 13 games. Corey Perry had two assists, and Scott Niedermayer extended his point-scoring streak to seven games.

And there were some glaring negatives. With injuries to top defensemen Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin and with both not expected back until after the break, the Ducks’ weaknesses on their end were again exposed.

The defense pairing of Shane O’Brien and Ric Jackman, who has struggled in particular since his arrival, was on the ice for the winning goal. Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, playing while Jean-Sebastien Giguere is sidelined, made only 19 saves, but he didn’t get much help.

The absence of Pronger and Beauchemin is being felt in many ways. Niedermayer played a season-high 35 minutes 51 seconds, Joe DiPenta played 18:51 and Kent Huskins, a 27-year-old minor league callup, played 21:35.

The Ducks hope to get some of their injured players back with eight days off for the break. But there are still five games to go.

“Obviously guys are out, but there’s a lot of guys in the lineup who are not even close to being 100%,” forward Teemu Selanne said. “That’s tough. In many ways, we are surviving and the break is going to come at the right time.”

The only reason the Ducks weren’t run out of the rink by a speedy Nashville team was a three-goal second period that forged a 4-4 tie as they took advantage of the Predators’ lack of interest in playing defense.

Penner and Getzlaf sandwiched power-play goals around J.P. Dumont’s goal to start the comeback and Selanne got the equalizer later in the second.

“We came out in the second period and responded,” said Marchant, who returned to the lineup after sitting out six games because of a strained stomach muscle. “That’s what good teams do. We’ve got a lot of character in here.”

Selanne tied the score at 17:30 of the second when he ripped a one-timer past Vokoun after missing on several opportunities earlier in the period.

The forward finally got his team-leading 25th goal after getting stopped three times by Vokoun and firing one shot off the crossbar.

The Ducks needed it after a first period that Coach Randy Carlyle said “might have been the worst first period we played all season.” Nashville got goals from ex-Duck Paul Kariya, David Legwand and Kimmo Timonen to take a 3-1 lead.

So the Ducks will soldier on and take what they can get along the way.

“It’s a tough way to lose it in overtime,” Carlyle said. “Considering our start, you’d have to think there’s a positive out of it that we got a point. We’ll move on.”