Ducks bow to Sharks

There is no need to find space in the Honda Center rafters to put up another Pacific Division champions banner for the Ducks. The San Jose Sharks will happily address that in their own arena.

The late-season surge by the Sharks continued Friday night, and it has culminated in their first division title since 2004. Jeremy Roenick and Curtis Brown ended a second-period tie with goals in a 3-1 victory over the Ducks.

And so the Ducks’ yearlong reign as division champions ended. They still have a chance to defend their Stanley Cup title, but the somber dressing room reflected what was snatched away from them in their own rink.

“It’s disappointing,” forward Rob Niedermayer said. “It was a big game for us. We knew that.”

The Ducks (44-27-8) were dealt a setback in securing home ice for the first round of the playoffs. For the second time in seven days, San Jose (47-21-10) showed its rival that this year may be different.

“It’s pretty sweet,” Roenick said. “We’ve struggled with Anaheim all year. To do it in this building is pretty special. They have a great team.”

Joe Pavelski assisted on all three goals.

The Sharks didn’t even need workhorse goalie Evgeni Nabokov as backup Brian Boucher made 23 saves against the injury-depleted Ducks.

On Feb. 20, San Jose dropped to 31-21-8 after its fifth loss in a row. Starting with a win at Philadelphia, the Sharks have gone 16-0-2 to go past the Ducks and third-place Dallas.

“They’re playing good hockey right now,” Niedermayer said. “You don’t get on the run that they have been on without playing some good hockey. They’re getting contributions from everyone right now. That’s what makes a good team.”

San Jose took care of the Ducks’ club-record 10-game home winning streak and boosted its NHL-best road record to 27-8-4 against the best home team in the league. It was Anaheim’s ninth regulation loss in 39 home games.

The subject of many trade rumors all season, Patrick Marleau put the Sharks on the scoreboard first with his 17th goal of the season and seventh since the Feb. 26 deadline.

Scott Niedermayer tied the score later in the opening period with a power-play goal on a wrist shot in the slot. Mathieu Schneider’s assist on the goal gave him 700 career points.

But that was the Ducks’ only highlight.

Missing leading scorers Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, along with suspended captain Chris Pronger, the Ducks struggled again on offense and have managed only seven regulation goals in their last four games.

“We have three big guys out and taking that high caliber of players out of any other lineup, it’s going to be huge,” forward Teemu Selanne said.

Said Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle: “You’re always concerned when you’re not getting enough offense. We had some situations where there were some things we’d like to specifically do, and we didn’t do those things.”

Jonas Hiller had been sensational in his last three starts in place of Jean-Sebastien Giguere in net. Hiller, however, showed he was human when he let in Marleau’s wrist shot from far out on the short side. Still, the Ducks’ rookie backup made 24 saves.

Giguere was on the bench after missing three games because of back spasms.

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eric.stephens@latimes.com