Blue-line blues for Ducks

DALLAS -- As they boarded an airplane Sunday in search of themselves and a path back into their Western Conference quarterfinal series against Dallas, the Ducks were forced to face the unthinkable.

Anaheim’s daunting defense, an all-star unit put together by General Manager Brian Burke precisely to help win a second Stanley Cup, has looked anything but.

In consecutive lopsided home losses, the strength of the defending Stanley Cup champions has somehow, suddenly become a liability heading into Game 3 Tuesday at American Airlines Center.

“All of us understand that we can all play better,” Ducks captain Chris Pronger said. “Having said that, we need to play better together. We need that team game. Right now we’re not on the same page and it shows on the ice.”

Pronger was talking about the entire team, but he just as well could have meant the six players paid to keep opposing forwards from setting up shop in the offensive zone.

If enough superlatives weren’t thrown the Ducks’ way when they added Pronger to a team that already possessed Scott Niedermayer, they were in full effect once Mathieu Schneider came aboard and Niedermayer ended his flirtation with retirement.

Few questioned Burke’s reasoning to load up on the back end and spend nearly $21 million, which includes Niedermayer’s $4 million prorated 2007-08 salary.

Pronger and Niedermayer will stroll into the Hall of Fame when they hang up their skates, sooner or later. Schneider has been a gifted offensive defenseman for nearly two decades.

The remaining three, Francois Beauchemin, Sean O’Donnell and Kent Huskins, would be welcomed on many other teams in the league. Called the NHL’s best defensive team by the Hockey News upon Niedermayer’s return, the Ducks gave up the second-fewest goals in the league, 191.

But they have been subpar in the first two games. No other playoff team has given up more goals than the nine the Ducks have given up, and six of those have come against a penalty-killing unit that the majority of them spend lots of time on.

“It just seems like we’re moving left when we should be moving right,” O’Donnell said. “Whatever it is, we’ve got to get it fixed by Tuesday.”

Pronger hasn’t been the mean customer who makes forwards pay a heavy price, and he looks as if he’s had to curtail his rough-and-tumble style in light of his eighth career suspension when he intentionally stepped on the leg of Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler.

“You obviously have to watch what you’re doing on the ice,” Pronger said. “I don’t think that’s a mitigating factor. I just haven’t played very well. We’ve got two games here in Dallas to turn it around.”

Niedermayer was strong in the Ducks’ 5-2 Game 2 defeat, but he took a costly offensive-zone penalty that resulted in a Dallas power-play goal. Schneider got caught up ice checking Stars forward Joel Lundqvist, and Brad Richards scored a key insurance goal on the resulting two-on-one break.

Beauchemin’s turnover at the Stars’ blue line led to Mike Ribeiro’s breakaway goal to get Dallas started in Game 2. Even Huskins was penalized for playing with a broken stick in Game 1.

Burke wouldn’t comment on the play of his rear guards except to say, “Despite our struggles, I’m still happy to ride into battle with this group of defensemen.”

Schneider acknowledged that the unit has taken more chances in order to create more offense, an element that has been erratic in this series and all season.

“Any team is a much better team when they’re playing with a lead, and we haven’t been able to do that yet,” he said. “We’ve been playing catch-up hockey all along.”

In December, Burke was faced with a trade he had to make in order to fit Niedermayer underneath the salary cap and satisfy the league’s complicated “tagging” rules, which meant the club needed to create room alongside the many players already under contract for 2008-09 to absorb Niedermayer’s $6.75-million salary.

Ultimately, he had two leading options -- deal playmaking center Andy McDonald, who was owed $3.33 million annually through next season, or Schneider, whom the Ducks signed to a two-year, $11.25-million deal last July.

The Ducks opted to focus on defense as McDonald was sent to St. Louis for Doug Weight, even though they’d already had trouble compensating for losing winger Dustin Penner to an offer sheet and the absence of Teemu Selanne, who also hadn’t made up his mind about playing this season. Penner had 29 goals last season and Selanne, who had 48, didn’t return until February.

At the time it seemed to be the right choice. McDonald was struggling without Selanne, unable to recapture the form of the last two seasons, where he had career-high point totals of 85 and 78.

Schneider began to show his worth after sitting out the first 13 games because of a broken left ankle suffered in his first exhibition game.

He had three points in two of his first four games and had at least one point in nine of the 18 he suited up in at the time of the trade.

Burke fielded offers for Schneider and could have used him to clear enough salary to add Niedermayer, possibly sign young goal scorer Corey Perry to a long-term extension and have some remaining to pursue a scorer at the trade deadline.

Instead, Burke stuck to his theory of building out from the blue line and wasn’t about to send Schneider packing after bringing him in because of Niedermayer’s indecision about playing.

“Defense has always been the backbone of my teams,” Burke told The Times last week.

That backbone needs to stiffen fast.

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eric.stephens@latimes.com