Hartsburg Not About to Panic Yet

A must-win situation?

Already?

Coach Craig Hartsburg wasn’t sure the Ducks had reached that point Saturday. But the Ducks, who are 1-6-1 in their last eight games, are probably pretty close.

“There’s no reason to panic,� Hartsburg said before the Ducks’ 1-0 loss to the Oilers. “There’s no reason to think, ‘Holy cow, it’s slipping away from us.’ Now’s the time that we’ve got to turn it around and win seven in a row. . . . Every game is important now. It’s also the fun time for the players. We play a lot of games, so we should be dying to play games that really count.�

Although the Ducks have been teetering on the brink of falling from the top eight teams that make up the Western Conference playoff qualifiers, Hartsburg is reluctant to count any team in or out of the postseason.

“A lot of teams are pretty much equal when you put them on paper,� he said. “There’s not much difference. Everybody is still in the race.�

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Rookie forward Antti Aalto participated in the morning skate Saturday, but he didn’t play for the third consecutive game because of flu.

“He’s still recovering,� Hartsburg said of Aalto, who has dropped six pounds because of his illness. “It wouldn’t be fair to play him at this point.�