No love lost between Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks in this series

Leave it to Ducks forward Matt Beleskey to do away with the polite talk, cutting to the quick well, quickly.

“I’m sick of them, that’s for sure,” he said. “Of course I’m sick of them.”

This response came when he was asked about the Ducks’ opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks, and an increase in borderline play in this series. That’s what hockey people often like to call “chippy.”

Chicago defeated the Ducks, 5-4, in double overtime here on Saturday night when center Antoine Vermette converted his own rebound at 5:37, thrilling the United Center crowd. The Western Conference finals series is tied at two games each.

The game could have been virtually over near the end of regulation when Chicago goalie Corey Crawford went after Beleskey with a two-handed slash and the Ducks came close to scoring. So much happened after that even Beleskey at first didn’t remember the specific play until he was reminded.

“I didn’t even really notice. Who knows? I hope he’s coming after me,” Beleskey said, adding. “I thought it was going to go in because he wasn’t even looking.”

Record watch

Two words come to mind when you hear the name Darryl Sittler: Ten points.

Yes, his NHL record for points in a game — including six goals — is still standing. It is like the Mount Everest of NHL records. Sittler, then with the Toronto Maple Leafs, did it on Feb. 7, 1976, against the Boston Bruins. That is far from the only distinctive mark Sittler has attached to his name. He was involved in another record with the Maple Leafs — the fastest three goals scored in an NHL playoff game, coming on April 12, 1979, against the Atlanta Flames. Sittler had two of the three and Ron Ellis scored the other in the span of 23 seconds.

The Ducks took a serious run at the lofty mark set 36 years ago. In the third period, they went quick strike on the Blackhawks, scoring three times in 37 seconds, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead with goals by Ryan Kesler, Beleskey and Corey Perry.

Odd-man out

Veteran defenseman James Wisniewski, considered the big catch at the trade deadline for the Ducks’ playoff run, has yet to play for them in the postseason.

“Incredibly tough, never thought in a million years I’d be doing this, but it is what it is,” Wisniewski said Saturday morning.

“Just accept it, be professional, come to work every day and work hard.”

The morning of Game 1 against Winnipeg in the first round, Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau appeared to make a surprise call, putting defenseman Clayton Stoner in the lineup and leaving Wisniewski out.

Starting then, Stoner has been with Sami Vatanen, and the other two set defense pairs are trade-deadline addition Simon Despres with Cam Fowler and Francois Beauchemin with Hampus Lindholm.

This has left Wisniewski to embrace the good soldier’s role, and Boudreau has praised the Ducks’ acquisition as “incredibly professional” on Saturday.

“It’s hard to argue when we’re 10-2 in the playoffs,” Wisniewski said. “There was confusion at first, then anger, but you need to be professional, because I never know when I’m going to get tapped. Injury could happen. They could ask me to fill a duty. The only way to do that is to stay at 100%, be ready to go when called on.”

Milbury clarifies

The Ducks were unhappy with NBC commentator Mike Milbury, who had been asked on the air on Wednesday how he would stop Perry.

Said Milbury: “If I were playing against him, I would want to hurt him in a painful and permanent way.”

Later, he appeared to soften that by praising Perry, saying he would want him on his team.

Perry and the Ducks were annoyed by the use of the word “permanent.”

On Friday night, Milbury, on the air, clarified his remarks, saying:

“We tried to show a tape that would demonstrate how infuriating an agitator Perry could be and also to show his skill set around the goal we were just trying to have a little fun with it.

“Apparently it wasn’t quite taken that way.”

Follow Lisa Dillman on Twitter @reallisa

Times staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this report.