Another overtime loss by Ducks

By Pete Zarustica

Superman has his Kryptonite and the Wicked Witch of the West had that bucket of water. For the Anaheim Ducks, it seems, the weakness is more than 60 minutes of ice hockey.

In losing 2-1 to the St. Louis Blues Sunday night at Honda Center, the Ducks recorded their eighth loss in nine overtime games. The defeat put their record at 24-13-9 (57 points), still good enough for first place in the NHL Pacific Division.

Rickard Rakell scored the lone Duck goal in the second period to tie the game at one-all, and Patrik Berglund got the game winner 51 seconds into overtime to get the Blues their first victory in Anaheim since Oct. 17, 2009. It was Berglund’s second goal of the night.

“We had a lot of chances tonight, and it would’ve been nice to score a few more goals,” Rakell said. “Going forward, we can take this with us. Just stay confident. We created chances. I thought we played a pretty good game. We can’t get too down.”

“I didn’t think we were as effective as we should’ve been in the second period,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “We let them dictate the play. They got a goal off a faceoff play, which is always a burr in a coach’s side. We responded in the third period. We had a good effort. We’ve had a great little run and we’re still getting points. That’s the most important thing.”

John Gibson was against strong in goal, making 23 saves.

The Ducks are next in action Tuesday in Anaheim hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning (20-20-4).