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ANAHEIM — Among the NHL’s many mysteries is how the Ducks can be playing by far their best hockey of the season and yet, over the past three games, have drawn only four power-play opportunities.

The club’s frustration reached a breaking point at the conclusion of Sunday night’s 3-2 loss to the league-leading San Jose Sharks at Honda Center.

After a debatable holding penalty on Ducks left wing Drew Miller led to a power-play conversion by Sharks winger Jonathan Cheechoo that snapped a 2-2 tie at 13:19 of the third period, the Ducks spent the game’s final 80 seconds controlling the puck in the offensive zone, pressing for an equalizer that never came.

It might have been different had veteran San Jose winger Jeremy Roenick not mugged Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf in the slot during the waning seconds. There was no penalty call.

“I don’t think Ryan Getzlaf is going to miss a wide-open one-timer,” Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney said. “He’s going to at least get his stick on the puck unless he’s hooked. He’s not just going to whiff.”

Referees Dan O’Rourke and Chris Lee handed out a combined 64 penalty minutes, including four misconducts, to four players from each side following a ruckus after time expired.

“We had many chances at the end to put the puck away, coming down the slot, and guys kicking legs out, guys getting jumped from behind,” Getzlaf said. “They seemed to put the whistles away, I guess, at the end of the game. Embarrassing, to say the least.”

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“It’s been a long haul and we’re in a good position,” said right wing Corey Perry, who provided a 2-1 lead with his 31st goal of the season at 11:31 of the second period. It came on one of only two Ducks power-play opportunities.

Playing their fourth game in six nights, in four cities, the Ducks “seemed like we were running on fumes at times,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “That leads to mistakes and turnovers.”

It also might account in large part for five of San Jose’s seven power-play chances coming in the game’s final 26 minutes. The first of those, after a charging penalty on Ducks winger Rob Niedermayer, resulted in a Joe Pavelski goal that pulled the Sharks (52-16-11) even at 15:16 of the second period.

Pavelski also drew the key third-period penalty on Miller, and a minute later, Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger inadvertently cleared the puck out of play, drawing an automatic delay-of-game call. The Ducks survived the ensuing two-man disadvantage, but Cheechoo re-directed a Christian Ehrhoff point shot past Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller 38 seconds later.

The difficult part for the Ducks is trying to fathom the shortage of penalty calls going their way. The Ducks enjoyed just one power play each in Thursday’s 6-5, shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks and Saturday’s 5-2 triumph at San Jose, while the opposition had a combined seven.

That’s a 14-4 discrepancy in three games, including 10-3 during the home-and-home series with the Sharks.

“Maybe the other two games, you could say nothing was taken on us, but tonight, I mean, I think we could have had a couple more, especially at the end there,” Whitney said. “It’s frustrating. If you’re standing still, you don’t deserve to get penalties, but when we’re skating, you’d think we’d be drawing some, and we’re just not.”

The Ducks, of course, built their 2007 Stanley Cup championship team in a rough-and-tumble image, but much of this season’s 11th-hour playoff run can be attributed to a greatly improved adherence to discipline. Sunday marked the first time in 19 games that the Ducks have surrendered more than five power-play chances, and they had given up that many only three times during that stretch.

“To some degree, I think the reputation that we’ve had historically is hurting us,” Carlyle said. “We’re not saying we haven’t committed fouls, but when we play in the offensive zone for the number of minutes we’ve played, and watch what other teams do to defend our players, and if we do the same thing — it doesn’t seem there’s an equal playing field at times.”