MIGHTY DUCKS NOTEBOOK : Yake’s Year Falls Apart in 2nd Half

EDMONTON, Canada — Terry Yake figured he was good for 30 goals this year, easy.

So did the Mighty Ducks.

But as the season’s final games tick by, Yake is stuck on 21 goals--one fewer than he scored in 66 games with Hartford last season.

He has played in all 81 games, but his goal-scoring has taken a nose dive during the second half.

Yake, still the only Mighty Duck with a hat trick this season, scored his 15th goal Jan. 2.

Since then, he has scored six goals in 40 games.

“It’s discouraging, if you expect to score 30 goals and are on pace to get 30 most of the year, to see that you’re not going to get it,” said Yake, whose mood has dipped in recent weeks. “It makes it tough.”

Yake sat out the second and third periods against Edmonton on Friday after being shaken up on a hit in the first period and suffering a mild concussion that left him questionable for today’s game against Vancouver. His shifts are running out.

“It gets frustrating after a while,” he said. “The opportunities per shift are still there. It’s a matter of not putting them away.”

Yake sat on the bench Friday morning before the Edmonton game talking with assistant coach Tim Army, trying to figure a way to get back on track before the season ends.

” I think he’s a little bit . . . confused . . . as to what his role should be,” Army said. “What I mean by that is the first job for all our players is to play within a defensive system. He’s always thinking defense instead of offense. I think when you’re the third forward, you have to think defense. But when you’re the lead forechecker or the second forward, you can become more assertive.”

Instead, Yake has been concentrating on not making defensive errors--and his goal-scoring has suffered. His point production hasn’t fallen off as dramatically. He has 16 assists since the midway mark, putting him ahead of the 28-assist pace he was on the first half. Defensively he hasn’t faltered much, and remains a plus-1.

“I’ve been trying to win hockey games,” Yake said. “If I’m not scoring, I’m trying not to be scored against. That creates a vicious cycle. You don’t create as much, so you don’t score as much. That’s what’s been happening to me lately. I’ve got to rethink my game plan.

“If I know what I need to do to play well, I can go do the things I need to to fix it. I think in certain situations, I get confused. I read a lot into things. Lately I think that’s what I’ve been doing.”