Penalties costly to Ducks in season-opening loss

In their 4-1 loss to the Sharks on Thursday they looked far more like last season's penalty-prone, offensively challenged bunch than their championship selves.

With their core in place and their minor training-camp dramas resolved, Ducks players had said they felt settled as the season began.

All that was settled at the HP Pavilion is that they weren't ready for the energy and consistent pressure exerted by the Sharks, who rode a pair of second-period goals by Jonathan Cheechoo to victory in the season opener for both teams.

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar:

The Ducks -- who led the NHL in penalty minutes last season -- took three penalties in a row in the middle period, including two that gave the Sharks a five-on-three advantage. Overall, they took five minor penalties in that 20-minute span and seven in the game, far too many to establish any kind of flow to their offense.

If not for a half-dozen agile pad saves by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the Sharks could easily have scored seven or eight goals without fear of retribution.

"When they stepped it up a notch, it almost surprised us," Giguere said. "And we should know better, being a veteran team. That's not something that should have surprised us."

The Ducks were too busy killing penalties to mount any kind of attack. In the second period they didn't take a shot on goal until 10 minutes and 39 seconds had passed. They were outshot, 41-29, in the game.

They scored their only goal with 5:25 left in the third period, on a shot from the point that was taken by Steve Montador and tipped past Evgeni Nabokov by Rob Niedermayer.

Cheechoo scored his first goal at even strength, but that capped a sequence in which the Ducks were unable to clear the puck out of their own zone, a problem that plagued them the entire game.

Cheechoo, who slumped last season to 23 goals after scoring 37 and 56 in his previous two seasons, finished things off by poking home the rebound of a Dan Boyle shot at 2:32.

With Scott Niedermayer serving a high-sticking penalty that appeared to be purely accidental, Cheechoo increased San Jose's lead to 2-0 at 6:44 by snapping a shot from the slot past Giguere.