Not only did the Ducks sleep through the alarm clock Wednesday
night, but they kept hitting the snooze button until they realized
they were late for their game against the San Jose Sharks. Dany
Heatley scored 15 seconds into the game to trigger a three-goal
outburst by the Sharks in the first period, and they held off a
comeback by the Ducks to gain a 4-3 victory in front of an
announced 14,486 at Honda Center.
ANAHEIM
Not only did the Ducks sleep through the alarm clock Wednesday night, but they kept hitting the snooze button until they realized they were late for their game against the San Jose Sharks.
Dany Heatley scored 15 seconds into the game to trigger a three-goal outburst by the Sharks in the first period, and they held off a comeback by the Ducks to gain a 4-3 victory in front of an announced 14,486 at Honda Center.
Ben Eager and Jason Demers also scored in the first to chase Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, but it was Heatley’s virtually uncontested goal off the opening faceoff that was alarming for a Ducks team that was coming out of the All-Star break with 10 victories in its past 13 games.
“I think the first shift was the worst-case scenario,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.
Hiller, making his first start since he appeared in his first All-Star game, wasn’t sharp from the outset and made just seven saves before he was replaced by backup Curtis McElhinney.
“I don’t know what it was,” Hiller said. “There are days you feel better. There are days you don’t feel as good. Today was definitely one that I didn’t feel that well. All we can do is play better the next game.”
Goals by Joffrey Lupul and Cam Fowler wrapped around a power-play tally by the Sharks’ Ryane Clowe helped the Ducks (28-21-4) get closer in the second period. Bobby Ryan got them within one with his 23rd of the season at the 5:36 mark of the third.
The Ducks kept pushing but couldn’t get another past San Jose goalie Antti Niemi, whose biggest stop came on Dan Sexton’s mini-breakaway at 7:10. And then they couldn’t get McElhinney off the ice for an extra attacker until it was too late.
But the first period set the stage for their loss. Meanwhile, the surging Sharks (27-19-6) won their sixth in seven games to pull into a tie with the Ducks for sixth in the West with one game in hand on their rival to the south.
“You can’t win a lot of games when you’re down 3-0 within the first 10, 12 minutes,” Fowler said. “I’m not sure if we were just a little rusty coming after the break. There’s no excuses. We can’t have a start like that in our own building.”
— Story by Eric Stephens, The Orange County Register
