Ducks lose the game and Bertuzzi

Nobody said that defending a championship would be easy, but the Ducks didn’t expect it to be so painful so soon.

Bad news seems to accompany anything good and the latest example came Sunday night against the Minnesota Wild when Todd Bertuzzi left the ice for good late in the first period on the night that Jean-Sebastien Giguere returned to the net.

The scoreboard at the Honda Center displayed another level of hurt for the Ducks when Wild backup goalie Josh Harding upstaged everyone with a strong 37-save performance in a 2-0 victory that kept Minnesota (5-0-0) as the NHL’s only undefeated team.

Meanwhile, the Ducks fell to 2-4-1 but the immediate concern was for Bertuzzi.

Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said his big winger suffered an apparent concussion when he was hit by Minnesota winger Derek Boogaard nearly 14 minutes into the game.

“He moved the puck toward the net and Boogaard . . . I don’t know if he ran down but he took an extra step to come down to hit him,� Carlyle said. “His shoulder or arm area caught flush on the jaw of Bertuzzi.�

The severity of the concussion is unknown. Carlyle said Bertuzzi will be re-examined today and pronounced him “highly doubtful� for tonight’s home game against Detroit.

It wasn’t going to be an ordinary October game Sunday given the contentious Western Conference first-round playoff series the Ducks and Wild played last April. Ducks winger Brad May knew a score would be settled after his punch to the face of Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson in Game 4 led to a three-game suspension.

As the 6-foot-7, 258-pound Boogaard skated beside him on a face-off, the 6-foot, 218-pound May knew it was time to take his medicine.

“He didn’t say a word,� May said.

“I just said, ‘We’re going to fight. I owe you one. Let’s do it.’ �

Said Boogaard: “Just by him fighting, he knows he made a mistake last year and you have to respect that.�

Ultimately, it was a side issue. The bigger battle was waged between the Ducks’ gun-shy attack and the 23-year-old Harding, who was starting in place of the Wild’s No. 1 goalie, Niklas Backstrom.

Most of Anaheim’s scoring chances came in the first two periods. Harding had to turn away 33 shots and played a leading role in helping the Wild kill all eight of the Ducks’ power plays, including two five-on-three advantages.

“Harding was just fabulous,� Minnesota Coach Jacques Lemaire said.

Harding outdueled Giguere, who sat out the first six games of the season while he recovered from sports hernia surgery performed on Aug. 6. Giguere, who received a loud ovation from the sellout crowd of 17,174, made 23 saves.

“Going through the first 60 minutes was a big step for my legs,� Giguere said.

“As far as that’s concerned, I’m fairly happy. I felt pretty good. I felt pretty strong and I was in pretty good shape. The timing was a little bit off every once in a while.�

That was the only good news. The Ducks went until Dec. 16 last season before they lost their fourth game in regulation.

More ominous is their missing offense. They’ve been shut out twice and have scored two goals or fewer in five of their seven games.

“I think that we need to get rolling a little bit,� Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “We’ve had some opportunities to score goals and they’re just not going in right now.�

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TONIGHT

vs. Detroit, 7, FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Honda Center.

Radio -- 830.

Records -- Ducks 2-4-1; Red Wings 4-1-1.

Record vs. Red Wings (2007-08) -- 0-0-1.

Update -- Tonight will be just the fifth time the Ducks have played home games on consecutive nights. The last time they did it was March 12-13, 2003. The Ducks defeated Chicago, 5-3, on the front end and claimed a 3-2 overtime win over San Jose the next night.

Tickets -- (877) 945-3946.

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