Ducks Squeezed by Blue Jackets

One cross-check too many by Mighty Duck winger Garrett Burnett to the neck of Columbus agitator Tyler Wright led to four minutes of penalty-killing time for Anaheim. Combined with a recurrence of their inability to finish, it led to the Ducks’ 2-1 loss to the Blue Jackets on Tuesday before 16,525 at Nationwide Arena. It was Anaheim’s first regulation loss in 12 games since Nov. 2.

Burnett got three minor penalties, two for cross-checking and one for roughing, after jousting with Wright in front of the Blue Jacket bench. Columbus got only one minor, to Kent McDonell, who reached over the boards to take a swing at Burnett. The Blue Jackets capitalized on the power play when David Vyborny slid a bouncing puck home from the right side of the crease at 6:20 of the second period.

They padded that lead with a power-play goal early in the third period, a chance created when Duck defenseman Keith Carney was pushed from behind and gave the puck away to Vyborny, who fed Rick Nash in front for Nash’s 16th goal.

That was all the Blue Jackets needed because of a strong performance by goalie Marc Denis, who was told less than two hours before the game he would have to play in place of flu-ridden Fred Brathwaite. Denis frustrated the Ducks until Vaclav Prospal converted a rebound with 31.9 seconds to play, Prospal’s first goal in six games and second in 12.

“We definitely had chances tonight. A lot of quality chances,” Duck center Steve Rucchin said. “We need to generate a little more.

“There were not enough of those garbage-type goals. We didn’t get the puck to the crease. Our penalty killing definitely let us down.... It’s definitely going to take more grit and determination [today] -- and any night -- than what we gave tonight.”

Burnett said he was battling for the puck along the boards when “a pushing match started and it escalated to some words ... I was surprised [by the extra penalties].”

Coach Mike Babcock conceded Burnett’s zeal cost a goal. “The bottom line is [Burnett] is a big guy and sometimes he’s going to cross the line,” Babcock said. He added, “We have to look at our preparation and our urgency. We didn’t skate.”

Bolstered by the addition of first-round pick Nikolai Zherdev, whose Russian team claims he shirked his military obligations when he left the country last week, the Blue Jackets had zip throughout the game. Duck goalie Martin Gerber thought they had too much energy: he contended he was run into by Wright early in the third period and was merely defending himself when he brought his right arm up and hit the Columbus winger. But it was Gerber who got a penalty and the Blue Jackets who capitalized on that power play with Nash’s goal.

“I don’t know exactly what [the referees] saw in that,” Gerber said. “We had some mistakes in our zone penalty killing, and that was too much, especially on the road and against a team like Columbus, that plays defensively.”

It won’t get any easier today in Detroit. The Ducks’ sweep of the Red Wings in last spring’s playoffs is an ever more distant memory. “Reality is,” Babcock said, “we’re now at .500 and scrambling with everyone else for a playoff spot.”