Tired Ducks waste Andrew Cogliano’s hat trick

PHOENIX — By squeezing a 48-game schedule into 98 days, the NHL effectively erased the idea of a day off this season. Which is just fine with Ducks center Andrew Cogliano, who hasn’t taken a day off since making his NHL debut seven years and 430 games ago.

But that doesn’t mean Cogliano and his teammates don’t get tired. And they were exhausted Saturday when, playing their second game in 22 hours and fifth in a week, the Ducks wasted Cogliano’s second career hat trick, twice giving up third-period leads before losing to the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-4, in a shootout.

“We were looking and feeling about as tired as we’ve been all year,� said forward Bobby Ryan, who spent nearly 20 minutes on the ice, the most he’s played in a game in more than a month. “It was a pretty tired group. You could see it in the legs.�

But even under those circumstances, escaping with just a point wasn’t satisfying Ryan.

“It’s a loss. There’s no way around it,� he said. “This is a group that feels like we let a point get away because of the amount of times they came from behind.�

Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau agreed.

“We want to be greedy and we want two points every chance you can get,� said Boudreau, whose first-place team lost for just the second time in its last 10 games. “I’ll always go back thinking I want two points and never be satisfied.�

Steve Sullivan, whose wrister from the slot tied the game with less than seven minutes left, setting up the overtime, won it in the shootout when he was the only one of the six shooters to find the back of the net. That spoiled a memorable night for Cogliano, whose only other hat trick also came in Phoenix, last season.

His first goal Saturday came 21 seconds after the opening faceoff when he wedged his way between two defenders on the edge of the crease and redirected a Saku Koivu pass from the corner past Mike Smith and into the net.

It was the quickest score of the season for the Ducks.

The Coyotes exploited a slow line change midway through the period, tying the score on Matthew Lombardi’s goal before going in front — briefly — midway through the second period when Lauri Korpikoski beat Ducks goalie Viktor Fasth cleanly from the left wing.

Cogliano answered 27 seconds later with a smart goal, using Coyote defenseman Rostislav Klesla as a shield, then beating Smith again with a nifty wrister from the right faceoff circle. He then completed the hat trick with his team-leading eighth score of the season less than three minutes shy of the second intermission.

But the exhausted Ducks couldn’t hold the lead, giving up sloppy scores to Korpikoski and Sullivan sandwiched around a power-play goal from Koivu in the final 20 minutes, then wasting a power play in the overtime.

And afterward Cogliano, whose consecutive-game streak is third-longest among active players, refused to use fatigue as an excuse.

“Every team’s in the same boat,� he said. “You can’t make excuses and say the schedule’s tough. You have to battle through. We knew this 48-game schedule was going to be a sprint. We’re in a good position and we’ve just got to keep going.�

[email protected]