Ducks Are Pleased With Tie

This was one more step to the “we’re finished” line.

The Mighty Ducks skated hard, even out-worked the Chicago Blackhawks, currently the fourth-best team in the Western Conference, but all they had to show for it was a 1-1 tie in front of an announced 11,360 at the Arrowhead Pond on Friday.

Everything came out a push. The Ducks’ German Titov and Chicago’s Steve Sullivan exchanged third-period goals. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, a bright spot in a bleak Duck season, stopped 39 of 40 shots, but was matched by Chicago’s Jocelyn Thibault. Both teams had chances, both teams wasted chances.

It got the Blackhawks a much-needed point as they drive toward the playoffs. It got the Ducks a day closer to the off-season.

“I hope there is no quit in this group,” Coach Bryan Murray said. “I think that’s the biggest thing for me. I want to see them continue to play hard every night, try to win the game against the good teams we’re going to run into.”

Murray got his wish Friday.

The Ducks came up with a solid game against the Blackhawks, whose front-line center, Alex Zhamnov, returned after missing four games due to a hip injury.

“We’re not giving up, we’re trying every game,” defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky said. “Of course it is kind of tough, knowing that the second year in a row we’re out of the playoff race a few months before the season is over. It’s hard to have that extra energy because you don’t really have a goal.”

The Ducks, however, are inching toward vacation as best they can. They are 10-5-1 in their last 16 games, a run that would have been more impressive had it occurred when they were in sight of the playoffs.

They can settle for trying to make things miserable for other teams. They have two games left with St. Louis, Phoenix and Dallas, and one left with San Jose and the Kings.

“I don’t think we approach the game like that,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We just try to concentrate on getting better and finishing up the season as strong as we can. We don’t necessarily think about trying to spoil things for other teams.”

Titov gave the Ducks the lead 6:39 into the third period, although it was Tverdovsky who did the busy work.

Tverdovsky took a pass right of the net, danced around one Blackhawk, then whipped a shot that was blocked before it got to the net. The puck, though, drifted to Titov, who flipped a shot in.

The lead lasted less than three minutes. Eric Daze flicked a shot on goal that Steve Sullivan redirected between Giguere’s legs for a 1-1 tie 9:09 into the period.

The Ducks had the better of play in the first period, outshooting the Blackhawks, 14-7.

Yet they could not beat Thibault, even on an aggressive power play.

With Kyle Calder off for holding the stick, the Ducks managed four quality scoring chances, the best being Matt Cullen’s point-blank try on a rebound that Thibault, who stopped 32 of 33 shots, dived to his right to get his stick on.

Giguere was equally impressive in keeping the game scoreless through two periods.

The Ducks played without defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski, who received a two-game suspension Friday for elbowing Pittsburgh defenseman Michal Rozsival in Wednesday’s game.

Vishnevski elbowed Rozsival in the face midway through the first period. No penalty was called, but Rozsival did not return.