Goalmouth Crash Takes Its Toll on Hebert

INGLEWOOD —  Mighty Duck goalie Guy Hebert met the press after the Kings game Sunday--and practically needed to be introduced.

“I don’t think I have all my marbles,” said Hebert, who was knocked into the crossbar and out of the game by the Kings’ Eric Lacroix during the second period of the Ducks’ 2-1 loss that knocked them out of the playoff race. “I don’t have a headache,” Hebert said. “That’s what worries me.”

Lacroix was crashing the net midway through the second when he leaped and barreled full-on into Hebert at high speed, knocking the unprotected back of Hebert’s neck into the crossbar and forcing Hebert’s mask upward so forcefully that it scraped his right cheek.

Lacroix ended up lying flat on his stomach on top of the net, which would have been comic except for Hebert’s injury. Clearly groggy with a mild concussion, Hebert was helped off the ice.

“I never saw the replay, but there were some angry guys in the locker room about it,” Hebert said.

Said Lacroix: “I was just driving to get to the net. I tried my best to avoid him, that’s why I jumped onto the top of the net. If I really wanted to hit him I could have, but I guess part of my leg hit him when I tried to get out of the way.”

Hebert took the brunt of the crash, but the puck stayed out of the net and the Ducks went on a power play--though a futile one--after Lacroix was called for interfering with the goaltender.

“It’s kind of like a catcher getting run over by a baserunner,” Duck winger Garry Valk said. “You can back out and let them score or you can stay in there.”

He stayed in for the crash, but Mikhail Shtalenkov quickly replaced him.

Though Shtalenkov had appeared in only one of the last 11 games, relieving Hebert in a loss at Detroit, he was ready. Two of Shtalenkov’s six victories have come against the Kings. The Kings were leading, 2-1, when he entered the game, and 2-1 when it ended.

Shtalenkov made 15 saves, holding off some furious King assaults. His reward for 30 shutout minutes probably will be a start against St. Louis tonight, his first in almost a month. Even if Hebert isn’t still suffering from the concussion, he isn’t likely to play with the Ducks’ playoff hopes over. “What’s the point?” Coach Ron Wilson said. If a backup is needed, the Ducks can call up Allan Bester for emergency duty. Bester, the San Diego Gulls’ goalie, has been practicing with the Ducks since the Gulls’ season ended for precisely that reason.

“It was the right decision to take me out,” Hebert said. “I wanted to go back in, but it was too big a game and as much as I wanted to play, there was too much at jeopardy for the team for me to go in just because I wanted to play.”