Giguere’s absence sidetracks Ducks

SAN JOSE -- Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere hit the ice for the warmup before Friday’s critical game against the San Jose Sharks. Nothing unusual about that.

And then he was gone. That’s about as unusual as it gets.

Giguere never did play as he was felled by back spasms and the Ducks’ slim chance at defending their Pacific Division title faded in a 2-1 loss to the Sharks at HP Pavilion.

The Sharks (45-21-9) edged closer to their first division title since 2004 as their 14th victory in 15 games padded their lead to seven points over the second-place Ducks (42-26-8) with seven games to play.

But the Ducks’ main worry is Giguere, who has battled injuries throughout his career but has been healthy since undergoing sports hernia surgery last August.

According to a team spokesman, Giguere’s tried to work through the back pain during the warmup.

Giguere did not speak to reporters afterward.

“He skated this morning and was fine,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said.

The severity of Giguere’s back issue could affect the Ducks in their last six games as they try to lock up a playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the first round. It’s unlikely Giguere will be available for tonight’s game in Phoenix.

“I would think that we would be in a situation to possibly have to recall a goaltender for [tonight], obviously,” Carlyle said.

Fortunately they had Jonas Hiller on Friday. Hiller made 41 saves, including one that he took off his mask on a deflected shot by Jonathan Cheechoo.

The shot hit off the stick of Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin and hit Hiller square, leaving him bloodied and stunned but not broken.

“Our goaltender played outstanding tonight,” Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “He gave us a chance to win. As bad as we played, we had a chance at the end.”

A disastrous third period began when Samuel Pahlsson took a high-sticking penalty and Travis Moen cleared the puck into the crowd for a delay-of-game penalty 19 seconds later. The Ducks cleared one two-man disadvantage in the second period but this one would be their undoing.

Jeremy Roenick converted his 13th goal of the season at the 1:12 mark of the third. The Sharks made it stand up as they got no resistance from the Ducks, who didn’t put a shot on goal in the last 20 minutes.

San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov faced only 13 shots in the game. Only Todd Marchant beat him in the second period when he one-timed a cross-ice feed from Chris Kunitz.

“The whole period started poorly when we were down two men for the second time in the game,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t play very good, I’ll tell you that. We’ve got to play to a much higher level than that.”

Until those penalties, the Ducks hung in after Joe Thornton gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 40 seconds in.

In the end, it was an important victory for the Sharks in their series with their rival. The Ducks had won five of the six previous meetings this season and their only loss came in a shootout in December.

The victory also ended the Ducks’ recent dominance in San Jose. Anaheim had won the last six times.

But that was all before the Sharks got All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell at the trade deadline. Since Campbell arrived, they are 12-0-1.

“We just wanted to play our game and show them how much we have changed since the last time we have played them,” San Jose Coach Ron Wilson said.

--

TONIGHT

at Phoenix, 7 PDT, FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Jobing.com Arena.

Radio -- 830.

Records -- Ducks 42-26-8; Coyotes 36-33-6.

Records vs. Coyotes -- 1-1-4.

Update -- Four of the five wins that Phoenix has over the Ducks have come in overtime or in a shootout.

--

eric.stephens@latimes.com