Ducks sluggishly are at a loss again

Eight games remain for the Ducks and it still figures to be only a matter of time before they clinch their second consecutive Stanley Cup playoff berth for the first time.

As for winning their first Pacific Division title, that is now officially up for grabs.

The Ducks followed up their sloppy performance against the Kings with a lifeless 2-1 loss to the lowly Phoenix Coyotes that was just as disappointing Thursday night at Jobing.com Arena.

Goals by Jeff Taffe and Bill Thomas in the second period were enough against the Ducks, who didn’t look like a first-place team while only managing Travis Moen’s goal with 2:33 in regulation.

“It’s hard to explain that one,” said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer with a puzzled look.

The Ducks had three days to stew over Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Kings, but their response was far from expected against a Phoenix team they’ve dominated the last three seasons.

In that time, the Ducks watched their division lead shrink as San Jose and Dallas each won their games to set up a potential three-team race down the stretch.

San Jose, which appeared to fall out of contention three weeks ago, defeated Atlanta on Thursday to pull within two points. Idle Dallas is only five points behind and waiting to play the Ducks in Anaheim tonight after beating the Kings on Wednesday.

The Ducks still have six of their last seven games on the road and their final home game is April 4 against San Jose after a four-game Midwest trip.

“We play Dallas twice and the Sharks once,” Ducks forward Teemu Selanne said. “They’re all huge games. Everything is in our own hands. If we can’t do it, then we can’t do it. We can only blame ourselves.”

Long out of playoff contention, the Coyotes suited up players who seemed to have more energy even though they were coming off a 5-1 loss at Minnesota two nights earlier.

Taffe and Thomas broke through in the second period against Ducks goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and the Coyotes made the lead stand up for their third win against the Ducks in the last 21 meetings dating to the 2003-04 season.

The Ducks were supposedly rested and refocused. Yet they only put 23 shots on Curtis Joseph, who had a relatively easy game.

“We worked hard all week on a couple of things and it seemed like we had people with no legs tonight, for whatever reason,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t have the jump.”

Selanne offered a reason as he likened their lengthy intense practices Monday and Tuesday to a “mini-training camp.”

“This team is built through hard work and a good forecheck [system],” Selanne said. “We need fresh legs and energy. When we don’t have that, we’re are in trouble. It’s as simple as that.

“I can only speak for myself. I didn’t have nothing. That’s the worst I’ve felt in two years.”

Carlyle, who said Monday’s long practice was punishment for their effort against the Kings, disagreed.

“That’s an excuse,” he said. “We didn’t do any work yesterday other than have a little bit of a bike ride.”

Whatever they’re feeling now, the Ducks’ reality is that they’re in a dogfight for a division they’ve led all season.

“We can’t control what they’re going to do,” Niedermayer said. “We can only control what we’re going to do. And our last two efforts haven’t been good enough.”

TONIGHT

vs. Dallas, 7, FSN West

Site -- Honda Center.

Radio -- 830.

Records -- Ducks 43-19-12; Stars 44-24-5.

Record vs. Stars -- 3-2-1.

Update -- The Ducks will put tickets for the Western Conference quarterfinal-round home games on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. They can be purchased at the Honda Center box office, at all Ticketmaster locations and on-line at anaheimducks.com.

Tickets -- (877) 945-3946.

eric.stephens@latimes.com