DUCKS SERVED UP RARE OCCURRENCE BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES FIRST IN 2 MONTHS ATLANTA 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 1.

Byline: Brice Nixon Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Consecutive losses for the first time in two months left the Mighty Ducks needing to regroup as they enter the final stretch of the season.

The Ducks remain in seventh place in the Western Conference after losing 4-1 to the Atlanta Thrashers in front of 15,451 at the Pond on Sunday. But it was their fifth loss in the past nine games, and the first consecutive losses since a five-game skid from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3, that has left the Ducks in a lull, as coach Mike Babcock put it, with just 16 games remaining.

``We worked real hard to get ourselves in this situation (in playoff contention),'' Babcock said. ``But tonight, with our lack of focus, we took all that work back. And that makes no sense.''

The Ducks and Minnesota Wild have battled back and forth for sixth place recently, and the Ducks had a chance to move back into that spot. Instead they remain a point back, and four points ahead of eighth-place Edmonton.

Goals from Vyacheslav Kozlov and Frantisek Kaberle had the Thrashers ahead late in the second period. That's when Marc Chouinard thought he had scored to give the Ducks some life. Chouinard took a swipe at a puck right in front of Atlanta goaltender Milan Hnilicka.

``As I'm skating by, I see the puck pass the line,'' Chouinard said.

But it was ruled a no-goal and there was no video replay, which angered Babcock.

``The referee told me he called up (to the video goal judge), and I've been told after they didn't call (the play) up,'' he said. ``That's a huge decision.''

It turned out to be after Ruslan Salei's goal with 4:09 left in the second. With the teams skating 4 on 4, Salei's fourth goal of the season made it 2-1 and got the Ducks back into the game.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere kept them in it with big saves in the final minutes of the period. He made a kick save on Lubos Bartecko. With 11 seconds left, he stopped Dany Heatley's point-blank attempt. Salei couldn't handle a pass from Niclas Havelid, leaving Heatley to break in alone on Giguere.

The Ducks showed more life in the second period than they had in the first, outshooting the Thrashers 16-9. But they never really put up much of a fight except for a brief stretch in the third period. Bartecko and Kozlov scored empty-net goals in the final minute to put the game out of reach.

The Thrashers had just two victories in their previous nine games and had been outscored 35-17 over that span.

``We didn't make any simple plays,'' Babcock said. ``We're all about being simple. And tonight we tried to force everything.''