Ducks’ Drive for Playoffs Hits Avalanche

DENVER â€”  The Mighty Ducks’ stretch run has seemed like a snowball rolling downhill, but some of the momentum was stopped Wednesday by the Colorado Avalanche, a team with an overwhelming array of talent and the second-best record in the NHL.

The Ducks left McNichols Arena after a 7-3 loss with the vision of winning their final three games and a guaranteed trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs gone.

They can still make it, but it’s no longer in their hands. Now they must hope one of the four teams within reach stumbles, and they cannot lose either of their final two games--against Dallas on Friday or against Winnipeg on Sunday, both at the Pond of Anaheim.

“People were saying, ‘Heads up,’ after the game,� Teemu Selanne said. “There’s nothing we can do about that one. It’s only one game. We have two left.�

Winnipeg, the team closest to the Ducks, remains two points ahead for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot, despite a 5-2 loss to Detroit.

But the Ducks and Jets meet in the season’s final game, and other scenarios by which the Ducks can make the playoffs include one as simple as: If Vancouver loses its final game to Calgary on Saturday, the Ducks need only a victory and a tie in their final two games. They would tie Vancouver with 77 points, and would win the spot on a tiebreaker because they would have more victories.

“We have to keep our heads up. We’re by no means out of it,� Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We do need help. We don’t control our own destiny now.�

The loss against Colorado was only the Ducks’ third in more than a month, a 13-3-2 stretch. Emotions on the bench Wednesday seemed to surge and fall as dramatically as the Ducks’ playoff prospects.

The score was tied, 1-1, after the first, but Colorado unleashed a three goal-second period barrage against a Duck team Wilson said seemed mentally and physically weary.

Then, with Wilson thinking he might pull goalie Guy Hebert to rest him since the game seemed a lost cause, Duck defenseman Bobby Dollas scored off a pass from Paul Kariya with 14 seconds left in the second to close the lead to 4-2.

Convinced the Ducks were still in it, Wilson kept Hebert in, and Kariya scored to make it 4-3 only 4:19 into the final period.

The goal that broke the Ducks’ back came a little more than two minutes later, a devastating triple-blunder on which Duck defenseman Fredrik Olausson fanned on a clearing attempt behind his net and Colorado’s Mike Keane backhanded it toward the goal.

Then Anatoli Semenov accidentally knocked the puck point-blank at Hebert, who seemed as if he should have been able to stop it. Keane was credited with the goal, finishing with two goals and an assist.

“Very tough game, especially up here,� Semenov said, pointing to his forehead. “A lucky goal.�

The momentum had turned for the last time.

Said Wilson: “Paul scored that goal and we had a surge right after that. But after that bad break, we sort of wilted.�

Kariya scored his 47th and 48th goals and assisted on the other goal despite a right foot bruised when he blocked a shot against Vancouver on Monday.

Asked what it would take to keep Kariya out of the Ducks’ most important game thus far, Wilson paused and said: “Amputation.�

“It obviously wasn’t 100%,� Kariya said. “I just pushed off my heel a little more because I couldn’t put weight on my toes.�

Kariya felt his speed was hampered, especially on the play that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead, a short-handed goal by Stephane Yelle 6:19 into the second period on which Mike Keane and Yelle out-raced Kariya and Olausson, the point men on the Ducks’ power play, on a two-on-two.

Now everything the Ducks have left must go into two final games, and they must hope for help from somewhere.

“If they don’t help us out, there’s nothing we can do about it.� Kariya said.

Duck Notes

Colorado’s Peter Forsberg had three assists in the game, and Mike Keane had two goals and an assist. . . . Despite the uncertainty of the standings, the Ducks made tentative postseason travel plans to Detroit and Denver several days ago. “You can’t wait,� General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “We’ve talked to the hotels and we’ve told the [charter airline] to be ready on short notice.� . . . Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner has become a regular at road games during the stretch run and was in Denver on Wednesday.