Once-Smooth Road Is Getting Rocky

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Mighty Ducks have gone from road warriors to road kill in a month.

Including their 4-1 loss to the Wild on Tuesday, the Ducks have lost seven of their last eight road games. This from a team that was 5-3-2-3 on the road through November.

Why the turnaround?

“That’s a really good question,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “If you get the answer, give me a call.”

Then Babcock tried to save reporters on their cell phone minutes.

“To me, when I sit back and analyze things, it looks to me that we went home and relaxed,” Babcock said. “We looked at where we were, we were a little happy with it and lost focus. Now we’re battling to get it back.”

A theory center Steve Rucchin agreed with.

“The road is where you really need to work harder and we’re not doing that right now,” Rucchin said. “We got a little complacent, thinking it’s going to come easy every night for us. Obviously that’s not the case. Right now we’re getting to a point where it’s slowly getting out of control.”

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Late in the second period Tuesday, Andy McDonald swooped in and knocked in the rebound, with Adam Oates getting an assist on the play. It was Oates’ 1,040th assist, tying him with Marcel Dionne for seventh on the NHL’s all-time list. He is nine behind Gordie Howe.