Ducks Are Not Road Warriors

DENVER —  Conquering foes in front of the home crowd is one thing. Doing it on the road is another.

The Mighty Ducks have one half of the equation down. The other will need a lot more work.

Fresh off a four-game sweep of their recent homestand, the Ducks turned in a clunker Thursday night in Colorado as the Avalanche got two goals from Antti Laaksonen in a 4-3 victory in the Pepsi Center.

It was a discouraging loss as the Ducks headed home for tonight’s game against San Jose.

“I didn’t think we were very good,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “Our execution was nowhere near where it needed to be.”

Colorado dominated play as the Ducks appeared to be a step slow until the third period and managed to stay close because of the play in goal from rookie backup Ilya Bryzgalov.

Although they are among the league’s best at home with a 6-1 record, the Ducks haven’t won on the road since opening night in Chicago, going 1-5-0-1.

“We’re a better team than that,” said right wing Joffrey Lupul, who scored two goals. “We can skate with this team, in their building or in our building.”

Bryzgalov, getting his first start since Oct. 25 against the Kings, kept the Ducks in the game with 32 saves, several of which were point blank.

“He gave us an opportunity to win even though we didn’t play that well,” defenseman Keith Carney said.

The Avalanche, however, scored three consecutive goals to answer Petr Sykora’s goal in the first period. Rob Blake punched in a pass from Alex Tanguay at 15:15 of the first, and Laaksonen gave them the lead for good when he one-timed a feed from Ian Laperriere at 17:09 after Andrew Brunette took the puck away from Vitaly Vishnevski.

“The first two goals were a prime example of poor defensive zone coverage,” Carlyle said. “How can you fault the goaltender when the guy is untouched?”

Joe Sakic made it 3-1 in the second when he drew Jonathan Hedstrom out of position with a fake pass and ripped a wrist shot past Bryzgalov. Lupul cut into the lead with a late goal in the second, but Laaksonen answered in the third.

With the Ducks playing four forwards on a power play, Laaksonen picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and raced in untouched on Bryzgalov, beating him with a backhand with 4:42 left in regulation.

“[Rob Niedermayer] tried to corral the puck on his backhand, and it looked like he was going to throw it back down the wall but it got away from him,” Carlyle said. “We still didn’t have people in coverage position on that side of the ice.”

Despite being outplayed, the Ducks were inches away from earning a point. Sykora nearly tied the score at the start of the third when his slap shot squeezed through David Aebischer’s pads and rested on the goal line. It wasn’t to be.

“That was the worst we’ve played, especially in the first and second periods,” forward Niedermayer said. “[Bryzgalov] held us in the game.”