Ducks Beat Nashville, Still Lack Spin Control

The Mighty Ducks’ treadmill continued to spin wildly out of control Monday. When and where it will stop is still anyone’s guess.

Skating hard, but not getting anywhere in the Western Conference standings, the Ducks took a 3-1 victory from the Nashville Predators before an announced crowd of 15,759 at the Arrowhead Pond.

Steve Rucchin, Jorgen Jonsson and Kip Miller scored for the Ducks, who defeated Nashville for the third time this season. Cliff Ronning had Nashville’s goal.

Meanwhile in Edmonton, the ninth-place Ducks got no help whatsoever from the seventh-place Oilers, who gave up a shorthanded goal in the third period and lost, 1-0, to the eighth-place San Jose Sharks.

The Ducks are three points behind the Sharks and four behind the Oilers. Essentially, the Ducks must win all three and hope the Sharks and Oilers stumble.

The Ducks’ final three games are Wednesday at Chicago, Friday at Nashville and Sunday against the Kings at the Pond.

The Sharks play Wednesday at home against Dallas, Friday at Phoenix and Sunday at home against Vancouver.

Edmonton has games remaining at home Wednesday against Colorado, Friday at Vancouver and Saturday at Calgary.

“Wednesday is going to be a big night,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We’ve got to take care of business. We can really put the heat on these other teams. We’ve got to play our best game of the year against Chicago. . . . Now, there’s two teams [within sight]. Edmonton is back in the picture.”

The Ducks didn’t need to glance at the out-of-town scoreboards to know the result of the Edmonton-San Jose game. Right wing Teemu Selanne kept them updated.

“We all knew the San Jose score,” captain Paul Kariya said. “Teemu announced it on the bench or while we were in the dressing room. I don’t remember where, but he told us.”

The result certainly didn’t faze the Ducks, who upheld their end of the bargain Monday by dominating the speedy Predators for long stretches. The Ducks also continued their recent practice of outshooting the opposition by a whopping margin.

Monday it was by 34-17. Dating to the start of the second period of a 4-3 overtime victory March 26 against the Phoenix Coyotes, the Ducks have outshot the opposition, 91-42.

“If it gets much better than that I won’t be facing any shots in a game,” goalie Guy Hebert cracked. “I have to go back to rec league games to remember when I faced 15-16-17 shots every night.”

The Ducks buzzed goalie Mike Dunham’s net Monday, but didn’t have much to show for their work in the Predators’ end of the ice.

Selanne set up Rucchin’s power-play goal (on a one-timer from point-blank range) with a quick pass from behind the net only 1:40 into the game.

But the Ducks got nothing else past Dunham until late in the second period. Jonsson’s wrist shot from a tough angle along the right-wing boards somehow slipped past Dunham with 1:34 left in the period.

The Ducks seemed poised to take command early in the second period, but instead watched Ronning pounce on an errant centering pass from Tom Fitzgerald and whip a backhander beneath Guy Hebert. Ronning’s team-leading 25th goal tied the score, 1-1, 8:10 into the second.

Jonsson’s go-ahead goal might have been the easiest shot Dunham faced during the second period. It wasn’t a particularly hard shot and there wasn’t much traffic in front of Dunham, but the puck still found its way to the back of the net.

“It was a huge goal with that [little] time on the clock,” Hartsburg said of Jonsson’s first goal since the Ducks acquired him March 11 from the New York Islanders. “Going into the third period tied, 1-1, would have made us pretty edgy. Kip’s goal really took the pressure off us.”

Jonsson then set up the back-breaking goal 1:50 into the final period, finding a hard-charging Miller on the left wing. Miller accepted the pass and beat Dunham with a quick shot for a 3-1 Duck lead.

“He hasn’t had a lot of points since he’s been here, but he’s been a solid two-way player for us,” Hartsburg said of Jonsson, who has three points in 10 games since the trade.

“Maybe this will loosen him up offensively. Tonight, he got us a couple of big goals. It was a big night for him.”