DUCKS CAN'T SPREAD BLAME : UNINSPIRED EFFORT LEADS TO HOME LOSS PHOENIX 5 DUCKS 2.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

Video replay was not a problem for the Mighty Ducks on Thursday night. This time their goals, both by Teemu Selanne, counted.

As for the rest of the Ducks' performance, nobody was asking to watch that again, either. Playing without the fire you'd expect in light of their recent frustrations, they lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 5-2 before 17,174 fans at the Pond.

The loss, the Ducks' first at home in the 17 games since Feb. 2, put them behind 3-2 in a best-of-seven-game NHL playoff series they had led 2-0.

And they lost control of this game as suddenly as they've lost control of the series. Phoenix goals by Jeremy Roenick and Teppo Numminen, less than two minutes apart in the second period, swung the momentum, what little Anaheim had.

``In the second period, we didn't play that intense,'' Joe Sacco said. ``For what reason, I don't know. It was a big game, everybody knew that. But we just weren't that sharp.''

Selanne tried to bring the Ducks back. His second goal of the game and fifth of the series, off a rebound of a J.J. Daigneault shot during a power play, cut the deficit to 3-2 with 13 minutes left.

But the Ducks were done after a Bob Corkum backhander beat goalie Guy Hebert on the glove side with less than 5:50 on the clock, completing Corkum's first three-point game of the season.

Then Keith Tkachuk scored an empty-netter with 20 seconds left, his fifth goal of the series.

This time the Ducks had nobody to blame but themselves. They had emerged from a morning skate claiming the frustration of Tuesday night's loss in Phoenix - in which their best effort of the series went for nothing when Steve Rucchin's go-ahead goal was disallowed with 8:02 to play because Brian Bellows' skate was spotted in the crease - was out of their system.

But in fact, they still sounded angry. Selanne said the spate of man-in-the-crease calls by video-review officials in the playoffs has been ``brutal . . . There's no excuse for that. There are enough guys (on the ice) to tell if it's a goal or not.''

The question was whether the controversy would inspire the Ducks or distract them from their game plan slash wish list, which included matching the beefier Coyotes check for check, improving their power play, and doing all that for more than the 55 solid minutes they managed Tuesday.

While respecting the sanctity of the crease, the Ducks also promised to buzz the net more tenaciously than they had since the opener, in which Selanne and Paul Kariya combined for four goals.

``We need more shots and more guys going to the net, because he (Coyotes goalie Nikolai Khabibulin) gives up rebounds,'' said Selanne, the right wing and prophet.

The Ducks trailed 1-0 with less than four minutes to play in the first period when Kariya got the puck at the right boards and slipped it to Dan Trebil. The defenseman's blast from the slot was blocked but not held by Khabibulin. Selanne was there to flip the puck past Khabibulin's blocker.

That was Anaheim's first goal in 118 minutes of action. Khabibulin had stopped 62 of 63 shots in Games 3 and 4.

In Game 5, he never trailed. The Coyotes scored with just their fifth shot, almost 15 minutes into the game. Counterpunching against Anaheim's Selanne-Rucchin-Kariya attack, Tkachuk got behind defensemen Daigneault and David Karpa and Craig Janney fed him the puck at the blue line. Tkachuk faked Hebert to the ice and went high.

The Ducks fans chanted, ``Replay!''

Three of the first four games essentially were one-goal decisions (before empty-net goals). But just when this looked like another one, Phoenix scored at 7:17 and 9:12 of the second period, and the Ducks' 12-0-4 streak at the Pond was winding down.

Roenick made it 2-1, jamming in the rebound of a Darrin Shannon shot.

Then Numminen, who'd made his biggest impact on the series as Selanne's defensive nemesis, gave the Coyotes a 3-1 lead, scoring off a centering pass by Mike Gartner. Daigneault knocked Numminen to the ice with a forearm as the red light flashed. All that did, though, was draw attention to the fact Daigneault had been beaten again.

Just like the Ducks, for the third straight game. Said Kariya: ``We need to regroup.''

DUCKS vs. PHOENIX

(Coyotes lead series 3-2)

Ducks 4, Phoenix 2

Ducks 4, Phoenix 2

Phoenix 4, Ducks 1

Phoenix 2, Ducks 0

Phoenix 5, Ducks 2

Sunday: Ducks at Phoenix, Noon, FOX

Tuesday: at Ducks x, 7:30 p.m., FSW/FSW2

x if necessary.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (Color) ROENICK

Box: DUCKS vs. PHOENIX (See Text)