Colorado Puts End to Streak

DENVER —  It had to end, but it didn’t have to end this way.

Not with a two-goal lead over the Colorado Avalanche vanishing during a wrenching third period. Not with a victory that turned into a tie that turned into a loss.

The final sequence of the Mighty Ducks’ remarkable streak passed swiftly, in four furious minutes: a bad penalty, a power-play goal, a knockout blow 66 seconds later.

With that, the Ducks’ franchise-record, 12-game unbeaten streak is history after a 4-3 loss Friday to Colorado, the NHL’s best team and the defending Stanley Cup champion.

“We should have come out with two points, or at least one,” goalie Guy Hebert said. “But that’s not just an ordinary team.”

With the Ducks trying to hold their lead by repeatedly icing the puck and the Avalanche swarming, Hebert faced 16 shots in the third.

“Wave after wave after wave,” said Hebert, who broke his own club record by starting his 20th consecutive game and his 39th in the last 40. “I was exhausted. We were all exhausted. They were just storming. We were just trying to get to overtime. We certainly didn’t lay down, but we certainly didn’t have any gas left.”

The crucial call came with the Ducks leading, 3-2, with 3:03 left in the game, when center Sean Pronger was called for roughing after he tangled with Colorado’s Peter Forsberg.

“He gave me a shot in the head and I gave him a shot in the head. The ref saw me go back at him,” said Pronger, who slumped on the bench with his head on the boards during the game’s final moments. “I should know better. It’s a tight playoff race. I should be able to take a shot in the head. It was a stupid play by me.”

Forsberg--who set up two of the Avalanche’s third-period goals and scored the game-winner--acknowledged he was “lucky” Pronger was the one penalized.

“We had started fighting a little bit in the corner and I guess he had the last punch and that was what [referee Paul Stewart] saw,” Forsberg said.

The power play was Colorado’s sixth of the game to only one for the Ducks, a disparity that left Duck Coach Ron Wilson fuming.

Stewart assessed a penalty against the Anaheim bench as time expired.

“That was one of the worst refereeing jobs I’ve ever seen,” Wilson said, before quickly cutting off his postgame interview.

Valeri Kamensky, who also had two assists, made good on the power play, banking the puck in off the heel of Hebert’s stick from the side of the net with 2:30 to play.

Then, with 1:24 left, Forsberg muscled his way around the Ducks’ zone and skated in on Hebert to beat him with a backhand move.

It was Forsberg’s 22nd goal and ninth in his last 10 games, a stretch in which he has 21 points.

“We didn’t make strong plays. We couldn’t get the puck out of our zone,” left wing Paul Kariya said. “We made dumb, weak plays and we took some bad penalties.”

Kariya scored his 35th and 36th goals, beating shaky backup goalie Craig Billington.

Teemu Selanne had the Ducks’ other goal, his 46th, tying him with Philadelphia’s John LeClair and Phoenix’s Keith Tkachuk for the NHL lead.

They remain tied for sixth with 10 games left--seven of them on the road.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Unlucky 13

After losing to the Kings, 3-1, on Feb. 20, the Ducks had gone unbeaten in their last 12 games (7-0-5) before losing to the Avalanche. A look:

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Date Opponent Result Feb. 22 Phoenix W, 4-2 Feb. 23 Vancouver W, 5-2 Feb. 26 Edmonton T, 3-3 Feb. 28 Washington W, 4-1 March 2 Detroit T, 1-1 March 5 Ottawa W, 4-1 March 7 N.Y. Rangers W, 5-2 March 9 Colorado T, 2-2 March 12 Detroit W, 2-1 March 14 St. Louis T, 4-4 March 16 Calgary T, 2-2 March 19 Kings W, 6-2 March 21 Avalanche L, 4-3

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* Record before streak: 23-30-6, 10th place in Western Conference.

* Record now: 30-31-11, seventh place in Western Conference