Ducks lose, 3-2, look forward to break

The official record will state that the Ducks enter the NHL All-Star break in first place in the Pacific Division.

At the moment, it is the only thing the team can feel good about.

Stuck in a tailspin that extends back to the last week of December, the Ducks reach the break with a four-game losing streak after a 3-2 defeat to the Calgary Flames on Friday night at Pengrowth Saddledome.

The Ducks won’t practice until Thursday and don’t play again until Jan. 28 against Dallas at home. And they are welcoming the time away with open arms.

“Maybe that’s what we need,” center Andy McDonald said. “Time to clear our heads. We’ve got some practice time ahead of us, which is good. Get back to working on things that are going to help our team.”

Once the toast of the NHL with a 27-4-6 record, the Ducks have managed only six points in losing nine of their last 11 games. In that time, they’ve seen their division lead over second-place San Jose shrivel to four points, with the Sharks playing host to St. Louis tonight for a chance to pull even closer.

The Ducks know things must change for the stretch run.

“I know we’ve got a lot of prideful guys in this room and we want to get back to the way we were playing before,” forward Rob Niedermayer said. “It’s hard when you have to think about it for [eight] days.”

Bad news continues to follow them. Captain Scott Niedermayer, who skated noticeably slower in Thursday’s loss to Edmonton, revealed that he has been playing with a stress fracture in his left foot and will sit out Wednesday’s All-Star game.

Niedermayer nevertheless allowed the Ducks to hang around Friday with his first two-goal game of the season after first-period goals by Dion Phaneuf and Alex Tanguay along with a second-period goal by Stephane Yelle staked Calgary to a 3-0 lead.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves, including several good stops that kept the Ducks close.

“We came up short but, as a group, we battled hard,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “But you can’t give up two goals early.”

The Ducks were energized by Niedermayer’s second goal early in the third period but couldn’t push another past All-Star goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

Niedermayer said he first felt something after the Dec. 29 game at Carolina, but X-rays taken afterward didn’t reveal any break in his foot. It was following last week’s game against Colorado when he said the pain was enough to have another X-ray taken.

An MRI exam Monday confirmed the small fracture, but Niedermayer said it wasn’t bad enough to force him out of the lineup. He said he was told by team physician Ronald Glousman that the break should be enough to heal the injury.

There were some positive developments. Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin was cleared to resume workouts after a CT scan showed his spleen is fully healed. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere says his groin continues to improve, and defenseman Chris Pronger is expected to resume skating after breaking his left foot on Dec. 31.

McDonald, who had two assists and now has 47 points, also earned his first All-Star selection as an injury replacement for Detroit winger Henrik Zetterberg.

That’s all the Ducks have at this point.

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eric.stephens@latimes.com