Plug Pulled on Their Play

The Ducks’ power play let them down again in a 2-2 tie Saturday against the St. Louis Blues. Given the talent on the Ducks’ top line, it would seem they could pop in a few goals with the man advantage.

But the Ducks failed to score in five chances against the Blues, a night after misfiring on five power-play chances in a 3-3 tie against the Dallas Stars. The Ducks are four for 45 on the power play after nine games this season.

“The power play would have been a big difference tonight,” right wing Teemu Selanne said. “We didn’t get any chances. I don’t know what’s the problem there. One power-play goal every game makes a big difference.”

More attention to it during practice this week figures to be Coach Craig Hartsburg’s solution.

“The power play didn’t help us a bit in either game [against St. Louis and Dallas],” Hartsburg said. “It’s something we’ve got to continue to work on.”

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Hartsburg isn’t a big fan of the morning skate, which was started years ago by legendary Montreal Canadien Coach Toe Blake in an attempt to get his players out of the bars and into bed the night before a game.

“I don’t know who the genius was who came up with this thing,” Hartsburg said, smiling. “You’d like to see a team with some enthusiasm, but there are a lot of coaches who put a lot into morning skates. They’ve become almost like full practices for some teams. It used to be that guys came and skated for five minutes in sweat pants.”

After rallying to tie Dallas on Friday, the Ducks held an optional skate Saturday morning at St. Louis. Only a handful of players skated.

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The Ducks play eight of their next 10 games at home, including a Wednesday rematch against the Blues. . . . Until Friday’s last-minute rally to tie the Stars, the Ducks had never scored two goals with the goalie pulled in favor of a sixth skater. . . . Hartsburg on rallying against Dallas: “We came right back. . . . Maybe it was because of our youth. What’s the saying? Young, dumb and stupid. We never figured out we were down, 2-0.”