Ducks Become Clay Pigeons : Hockey: It’s target practice for the Red Wings, who take 24 shots in the second period and win, 5-2.

There are not too many things worse for a hockey team in the middle of a defensive collapse than seeing the Detroit Red Wings bearing down with their array of speed, skill and size.

That was what the Mighty Ducks faced Friday night, and the result was too easy to predict, a 5-2 loss in front of 17,174 at The Pond.

The Ducks could lose to the Red Wings by that score if they were playing well defensively, and the best thing you could say about Friday’s game was that it could have been much worse.

The score might easily have been 3-0 in the first two minutes. Mike Sillinger swooped in on goalie Guy Hebert alone in the first 30 seconds, but his shot went wide. Moments later, a shot by defenseman Paul Coffey glanced off the right post, and then Hebert made a sharp save to stop Keith Primeau.

They managed to withstand that first furious onslaught, and by the end of the first period, trailed by only 2-1, and were only being outshot, 8-7--quite a respite after facing 98 shots the previous two games.

Things fell apart in the second period, though, and Detroit went up, 4-1, while unleashing 24 shots and outshooting the Ducks, 18-1, in the final nine minutes of the period. The 24 shots allowed is a club record for the Ducks.

Still, it was progress.

“We certainly didn’t play the way we did in St. Louis or Dallas,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “I’m glad we played Detroit. We had to be focused and we had to fear another spanking.

“For the first 33 minutes, we played generally well. Then we had a couple of giveaways in the neutral zone and we collapsed, We’re a very fragile team right now. All in all, I was happy for the first 33 minutes.”

The Ducks had their moments, but the result was another heap of ugly numbers. Detroit’s Ray Sheppard scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season, tying Chicago’s Joe Murphy for the NHL lead. More pertinent to the Ducks, in the last three games, they have been outscored, 21-6, and allowed 142 shots, including 44 to the Red Wings. They have given up seven, nine and five goals in the last four nights.

The second-year team is in the midst of what Wilson calls “an identity crisis” as it tries to adjust to having offensive talent to go with is chorus of muckers and grinders who won last season with defense. Now they try to win with the offensive wizardry of rookie Paul Kariya without losing their defensive poise. They’re not succeeding.

“They’re trying to do what he does and they’re not capable of doing it,” Wilson said.

Captain Randy Ladouceur has talked to the players about remembering how they won 33 games last season.

“The foundation of our success last year was playing solid defense and waiting for a break and capitalizing on our opportunities,” he said. “Certainly defense was first in our minds, and we’ve got to fall back on that and take care of our own end. . . . We’ve got to be more tenacious on defense and let the offense come.”

Some of the veterans have been shaky, some of the new players such as Kariya and Valeri Karpov aren’t exactly known for defense.

“It’s just a combination of a lot of things; you can’t say it’s the rookies over the veterans,” said center Bob Corkum. “We’ve got more talent but not as much grit. Guys last year came from other teams where they were third and fourth liners and if they wanted to play they had to get in there and work hard, bang and scratch and claw.”

One of the team’s early frustrations has been the play of defenseman Tom Kurvers, who is known as a power play specialist and has a reputation as a defensive liability that is one reason he has played for seven teams. On the disastrous two-game trip, Kurvers had a plus-minus rating of minus-8.