It’s the Ducks Who Take Fall After the Dive

DENVER —  Colorado center Stephane Yelle scored a second-period goal while sprawled on his stomach in the Avalanche’s 6-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks Thursday night.

The degree of difficulty was off the chart.

The improbability factor also was impossible to figure.

But somehow, some way, Yelle reached out and, with a sort of paddling motion, whipped a loose puck in the slot past stunned goaltender Guy Hebert and into the Duck net.

“I [saw] the puck and dove for it,” Yelle said. “I just tried to get the puck on net. I didn’t know where the goalie was, but he wasn’t in the net and the puck went in.”

What possible response could the Ducks have after that?

Nothing.

“The puck was bouncing good for them,” Duck right wing Teemu Selanne said. “They deserved that, though. They were playing better and smarter. We just couldn’t match them tonight.

“There was no secret. Those guys were much better tonight.”

The second of two goals by Yelle didn’t win the game for the Avalanche, but it underscored the growing gulf between a team on the rise and one barely treading water.

Colorado’s victory was its seventh consecutive, one short of the franchise record. The Ducks are 0-3-1 in their last four games and 1-5-1 in their last seven.

Yelle’s goal gave the Avalanche a commanding 5-2 lead at the 11:59 mark of the second period.

“I’ve seen guys score while on their stomach before,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg grumbled when asked about the play. “It wasn’t very good on our part. When you see something like that it usually means you’re not very good around your own net.”

The Ducks kept the game close for about seven minutes.

Duck winger Marty McInnis countered Colorado center Peter Forsberg’s first-period goal with his 14th goal of the season. Selanne and Fredrik Olausson assisted on McInnis’ power-play goal.

For Olausson, a native of Dadesjo, Sweden, it brought him within two points of 500 for his NHL career. He is trying to become the second European-born defenseman in league history to reach that milestone.

So much for the Duck highlight Thursday.

Claude Lemieux scored consecutive goals, giving Colorado a 3-1 lead by the end of the first period.

“The first period was the hockey game,” Hartsburg said. “They seemed to have a lot more energy. It’s where the game was won and lost.”

Matt Cullen gave the Ducks a brief spark, scoring 58 seconds into the second.

But Yelle put the game away with his sixth and seventh goals of the season.

Adam Deadmarsh added a third-period goal for Colorado, which defeated the Ducks, 4-3, Wednesday at the Arrowhead Pond.

“[Wednesday,] we played a strong game and we just didn’t finish it off,” Hartsburg said. “Tonight, we were not even close to being the team we can be. For the most part, our guys tried to fight through it.

“We just weren’t very good.”

Hartsburg found it difficult to place all the blame for the loss on his players. He also praised the play of the Avalanche.

“It was a tough night,” he said. “That’s the best I’ve seen that team play. Give them some credit.”

Of the Ducks, he added, “We’re going through a tough time.”

The Ducks have been through a number of slumps this season. But this one appears to be particularly troublesome. Thursday was the first game of a stretch in which the Ducks play four of five games on the road.

Home has been good to the Ducks, but they are 5-12-5 away from the Pond.

“It’s pretty frustrating, but we have to stick together,” Selanne said. “There’s no other way. We’re going through some tough times. We’re going to fight through this.”