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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Mighty Ducks made an incredible run through the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, coming one win away from their first championship.
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No chance of that happening this season. The Ducks became the fifth team in 11 seasons to miss the playoffs after going to the finals the year before, finishing 12th in the Western Conference.
"We are about the playoffs, and having the opportunity to chase that big silver thing," coach Mike Babcock said of the Stanley Cup. "But we never got to that. You only get so many opportunities, and we let one pass us by.
"That's what's disappointing, and we want to remember how disappointing that is."
Right from the start, the Ducks must have had an inkling this was not their year. They lost their first five games, getting shut out twice, and never reached the .500 mark. They ended up 16 points out of a playoff spot.
Anaheim's longest winning streak was three games. During one stretch in November and December, the Ducks had a 13-game winless streak on the road. Not one of their players was chosen to play in the All-Star Game.
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| Jean-Sebastien Giguere had more shutouts in last year's playoffs (five) than all this season (three).(AP) |
Giguere had only three shutouts all season -- as many as he had in the conference final series against Minnesota. He surrendered five overtime goals in his first 14 starts after setting an NHL record for the longest playoff overtime shutout streak (168:27).
"There's absolutely no excuse for what happened, other than we didn't play as hard as we could every night," Giguere said. "But we are going to move on. There's nothing to be accomplished by beating ourselves up at this point."
Team chemistry also was a huge factor in Anaheim's dismal performance. After losing Paul Kariya, Adam Oates and Steve Thomas to free agency during the offseason, general manager Brian Murray signed free agents Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal to five-year deals.
But both had difficulty adjusting to new linemates and got off to a miserable start.
Fedorov, a six-time All-Star who helped Detroit win three Stanley Cups and was the league's MVP in 1993-94, had only three goals in his first 16 games before finishing with 31.
Prospal, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning in scoring last season, had just six goals in his first 45 games before scoring eight in an eight-game stretch.
By then, Anaheim was near the bottom of the Western Conference. The Ducks made a brief surge after the All-Star break, going 9-3-1-1 and climbing within six points of a playoff spot. But a 2-1 road loss to the woeful Pittsburgh Penguins triggered a season-ending 4-9-1 stretch that left them searching for answers.
"It was hard to play the last month. At some point, I felt like we were going nowhere," Fedorov said.
There were a few bright spots for the Ducks, who led the league in faceoff percentage for the second straight season.
Rookie center Joffrey Lupul scored three goals in the Young Stars game during All-Star weekend. Steve Rucchin, who replaced Kariya as team captain, played every game for the second year in a row after injuries limited him to 54 games over the previous two campaigns.
But others weren't as fortunate. Mike Leclerc, who scored the winning goal or assisted on it in five consecutive Anaheim victories during the playoffs, played in just 10 games after undergoing offseason surgery on his left knee.
Keith Carney missed the first 11 games of the season with a broken right foot. Sandis Ozolinsh was sidelined 42 consecutive games after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder.
"It leaves you with a pretty empty feeling," Rucchin said. "It hurts even more because we didn't reach our potential as a team."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
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