Ducks aren’t sure in 1-0 loss

Nothing is a sure thing these days with the Ducks, not even with the Phoenix Coyotes in town.

Usually an appearance in the Honda Center by the Coyotes meant a victory was as close to a guarantee as the sun rising in the east. Not anymore.

The Ducks’ season-long offensive woes continued Thursday night as they were shut out for the third time, 1-0, with journeyman Alexander Auld being the latest goaltender to take advantage of the punchless team.

Auld, who’s on his third team in as many seasons, made 31 saves, but the outcome could have been much different had the Ducks been able to bury any of the chances left by a lowly Phoenix team that broke a 10-game losing streak in Anaheim.

“Obviously, we’re squeezing our sticks,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We missed open nets and we missed glorious opportunities. We seemed to get frustrated as the game wore on.”

In dropping a season-high third regulation game in a row, the Ducks (4-7-1) have now scored two or fewer goals in eight of their 12 games. Again, they came up empty on the power play with six more chances wasted, which makes them eight for 72 on the season.

Ducks captain Chris Pronger stressed the need to stay together as a team.

“I think the biggest thing for us is not to panic and not to start pointing fingers,” Pronger said. “We’re all making mistakes out there. We can all be a lot better and certainly we’ve got to learn from this little stretch here of what it’s going to take for us to win.”

The only glaring mistake came when Phoenix rookie Craig Weller squeezed his first career goal past the glove of Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov on the short side. Bryzgalov made 20 saves, but Weller’s score would be the difference.

The Ducks’ offensive problems were highlighted in a 2 1/2 -minute span in the third period.

Auld got caught behind the net and Corey Perry seemingly had an open net to tie the score. But Auld recovered to get his glove on Perry’s wraparound attempt.

“I missed the net,” Perry said. “It’s a wide-open cage. I have no excuse for it.”

Chris Kunitz later hit the crossbar on a rush with Perry and Andy McDonald. The Ducks pulled Bryzgalov for an extra attacker late but that opportunity was neutralized when Kent Huskins took an interference penalty with 25 seconds remaining.

Because of injuries to Ryan Getzlaf and Rob Niedermayer, and the continued absence of Todd Bertuzzi, Carlyle was forced to try line combinations he probably never imagined he would use before the season.

Carlyle kept Kunitz and McDonald together for the second consecutive game, but he filled out the line with Mark Mowers on right wing. Todd Marchant started out in Getzlaf’s normal spot on the top line with Perry and recently recalled winger Jason King.

The changes weren’t limited to the top two lines. Rookie Drew Miller took Niedermayer’s place on the checking line with Travis Moen and Samuel Pahlsson while Petteri Wirtanen, who was also called up Wednesday, took a spot on the fourth line.

Before the game, Carlyle acknowledged the challenges he’s facing to create offense out of a depleted lineup.

“Obviously we’re not filling the net with goals, so we have to try to find some combinations to find some offense,” Carlyle said. “It’s been challenging from that aspect.”

Now it’s a challenge to get a win against anyone.

“Maybe the guys are squeezing their sticks too tight because things aren’t going the way we want them to,” Perry said. “We just got to get over this and move forward.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com