Ducks fall to Predators

"He was hit by a body check about two seconds after his released the puck," Carlyle grumbled.

BURKE FREE Former Ducks general manager Brian Burke is officially a free agent.

The Ducks confirmed that chief executive Michael Schulman has filed the necessary paperwork notifying NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that other teams have permission to talk to Burke, who stepped down as Ducks general manager Wednesday but is still under contract to the team as a "senior consultant" to Schulman.

"I am searching for my next opportunity," Burke said.

Burke is interested in pursuing employment in the East primarily because of what he has cited as family reasons.

MAY IN NOVEMBER

Left wing Brad May returned to the Ducks lineup on Friday after missing six games because of a sprained right knee.

May was injured in an Oct. 29 game against the Detroit Red Wings.

REST VS. RUST

The Ducks did what they could this week to prepare both for Friday's game and the long haul.

After the club had played a league-leading 17 games in 32 days, Carlyle gave the Ducks days off

Monday and Tuesday before running a particularly demanding practice Wednesday and another Thursday.

"The rest was the most important thing in the first of the week," Carlyle said. "Our practices have been such where we've worked hard. We've worked on a lot of passing, skating, moving-the-puck drills.

We worked on some specialty teams. We worked on defensive-zone coverage - all the things that make up a game."

Carlyle considered it a good sign that nearly everyone was on the ice for Friday's optional morning skate. Center Samuel Pahlsson was the lone exception, a distinction that cost Pahlsson some good-natured ribbing in the locker room.

"We had an optional and we had 99.9 percent of the people go out, so obviously they feel they're refreshed," Carlyle said. "Rust? I don't think that should be an issue. At game 18, I don't think you should have to worry about rust."

Regardless of how they had handled the downtime, the Ducks faced the challenge of perhaps not being as sharp as desired, particularly early, against the Predators.

"Everybody should feel better after some time off, but you get a little off the game, I think," Pahlsson said.

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(c) 2008, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.). Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.