Stars 4, Ducks 3.

It’s never a good day when a coach is asked to recall an overturned goal that went against his team, and has to specify which one.

It hasn’t been a good weekend for Randy Carlyle and the Ducks.

Back-to-back losses to the Sharks and Stars have put their playoff plans on hold, and this one was frustrating on a couple counts. Namely, Teemu Selanne’s goal at 17:56 of the third period and Bobby Ryan’s goal at 19:11, neither of which counted in the eyes of referee Brad Meier.

Those tended to overshadow the goals that counted — by Lubomir Visnovsky, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry — and the fact the Ducks played like a group worn down by Saturday night’s loss in San Jose. The low point was probably a 5-on-3 shift spanning 80 seconds of the middle period during which the Ducks couldn’t get off a shot from within 20 feet of Kari Lehtonen.

Ray Emery (27 saves) lost his second game as a Duck, second game of the season, and second in as many days.

Tomorrow’s game story focuses on the reaction in the Ducks’ room to the calls by Meier, whose crew also missed a too many men on the ice call against Dallas in the second period. There was plenty of steam to be blown off, and Carlyle instructed his players to “do nothing” tomorrow — no practice, no golf — just recharge the batteries for another game against the Sharks on Wednesday, with a playoff berth at stake again.

A few more notes:

Visnovsky (upper-body) was only cleared to play after the pregame skate. His 18th goal of the season matched a career high and extended the record for most goals in a season by a Ducks defenseman.

Perry set a franchise record with his fourth short-handed goal of the season. He created the goal for himself by beating Jamie Langenbrunner to a 50-50 puck in the neutral zone, then paralyzing Lehtonen with a backhand shot for the goal. Perry leads the league with 47 goals; Steven Stamkos is next with 44.

Luca Sbisa and Francois Beauchemin drew the toughest defensive assignment, trying to stop Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn during 5-on-5 play. They did OK. Only Jeff Woywitka’s goal (which came at the end of a line change, on a save Emery should have made) was charged against the pair. Sbisa also blocked a team-high four shots and Beauchemin blocked three.

Print it and frame it: Ryan Getzlaf shared the team lead with five shots on goal. He also had a team-high seven hits.

The overstatement of the night goes to Stars head coach Marc Crawford: “Our guys were very determined tonight to not let it happen, not on their watch.” It’s an accurate quote – if he’s talking about the officiating crew.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.