Coach Turns Up Heat in Practice

The Ducks clobbered each other for more than a hour Monday, going through a series of spirited drills designed to recapture the intensity Coach Craig Hartsburg believes was lacking in losses last week to Phoenix and Dallas.

The Ducks spent much of their practice trying to get the puck to the front of the net for point-blank shots. They also performed drills designed to clear the puck safely out of trouble.

“We didn’t play like that [against Phoenix and Dallas], so we’ve got to practice [with intensity] until we get it back,” Hartsburg said. “We’ve got to be hard-nosed. If we don’t play like that it means we’re not desperate.”

Asked for his review of the games against Phoenix and Dallas, Hartsburg said, “We were OK, but we didn’t push it to another level.”

So, he had them mucking and grinding in the corners Monday and he plans to do it again today. The players are ready for it.

“Out of the six periods we played, I’d say three or four were very good ones,” defenseman Kevin Haller said of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Phoenix and Friday’s 4-0 defeat against Dallas. “We made a few mistakes against Dallas and they capitalized. In the third period against Phoenix, they didn’t get any pressure against us.

“It’s not like we were awful. But we’re better than that. We’ve got to expect more from ourselves.”

Hartsburg certainly does.

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Goalie Guy Hebert, winger Jeff Nielsen and defenseman Fredrik Olausson did not participate in Monday’s practice. Hebert was given the day off to rest and Nielsen and Olausson were recovering from bumps and bruises.

Hartsburg expects them to practice today and to be in the lineup Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.

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Ottawa has been perhaps the NHL’s biggest surprise this season, leading the Eastern Conference standings for the last few weeks.

But Hartsburg won’t be treating the Senators any differently from the Ducks’ other recent opponents.

“A lot of the things Ottawa does are the same things we’re talking about doing here,” he said. “They work hard and they’re skilled. Our focus isn’t on Ottawa, but on ourselves for the next couple of days. We’ve got to play [well for] 60 minutes against them.”