Ducks change course and head south again, losing to New Jersey

The Ducks seemingly had put their bad start behind them, but on Friday night they fell to a New Jersey Devils team that has trouble of its own.

New Jersey was only 2-7-1 before taking a 2-1 victory at the Honda Center over the Ducks, who have yet to win consecutive games this season.

“We knew they’d come out hard,” said Jason Blake, who scored the Ducks’ goal after being benched for a 5-2 win at Dallas on Tuesday. “For us, we’re just trying to keep the ball rolling. We had a great win in Dallas. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the win tonight.”

Martin Brodeur stopped 27 shots for New Jersey, which had lost three straight and five of its previous six games.

“You can’t score if you don’t shoot,” said Blake, who scored on a power play at 8:07 of the second when he took a pass from Saku Koivu at the corner of the net and swatted at the puck twice until he put it past Brodeur.

“He’s obviously a Hall of Fame goaltender. You try to get as many shots as possible. He’s probably going to save the first one. You just try to get some bodies there and disrupt his rebound chances.”

New Jersey broke a 1-1 tie 1:54 into the third period after picking off Ducks defenseman Danny Syvret’s attempted cross-ice pass. Patrik Elias scored the go-ahead goal off a pass from Alexander Vasyunov after what Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle called “a costly turnover.”

“The guy was wide open on the wall. But obviously [Syvret] didn’t see that,” Carlyle said. “That’s a mistake that was made that cost us a goal.”

The Devils continue their Western swing tonight at Staples Center against the Kings, who wooed Ilya Kovalchuk last summer only to see him sign a 15-year, $100-million deal with the Devils. He has yet to produce much, with three goals and three assists in 10 games.

The Ducks, after opening the season 0-3 on the road and playing seven of their first 10 away from home, on Friday began a stretch in which they play six of eight at home.

They thrived at home last season, going 25-11-5. The road was their bugaboo; they went 14-21-6.

After a scoreless first period Friday, the Ducks broke through with Blake’s goal, and he pumped his fist after getting back in the lineup after being dropped from the No. 2 line with Koivu and Teemu Selanne.

“The bottom line is you have to play better,” Blake said. “It felt nice to get back in there.”

The lead didn’t last long, with Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner tying the score at 10:39 when he slung a shot from near the goal line and it somehow slipped past Jonas Hiller for Langenbrunner’s first goal of the season.

“Every time we get it going, we play a game like tonight and lose and it starts all over again,” Hiller said. “It would be great we would get a streak going.”

Etc.

The Ducks recalled forward Josh Green from Syracuse of the American Hockey League to be available with Matt Beleskey and Dan Sexton out because of injuries. Green, 32, played in Sweden last season but has appeared in 322 NHL games with eight teams, including the Ducks. . . . Defenseman Cam Fowler sat out a fifth straight game because of a sore neck and broken nose.

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