By Chris Foster 

German Titov has done what he can to put personal tragedies behind him. Now he wants to play hockey.

Viktor, his father, fell to his death from a balcony in Moscow last September. Mikhail, Titov's 25-year-old brother, fell to his death from a balcony six months later. Both were apparent suicides.

Maria, his mother, spent the summer in Calgary with her only remaining son and has gone back to Russia. So Titov has grieved and helped his mother. The time has come, he said, to get back to playing at a level that earned him a three-year, $4.6-million contract from the Ducks last summer.

"I want to forget last season," Titov said. "Everything was bad. But thatis life."

Expectations for Titov, 36, have been downsized considerably since last year.

He was expected to be the team's second-line center, but he scored a career-low 20 points after averaging 52 points in the previous five seasons.

Titov scored the Ducks' only goal Wednesday in the second period of a 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild before an announced crowd of 8,692 at the Arrowhead Pond.

If the Ducks had not invested so heavily in Titov, he might not have been back this season.

"I've worked hard all summer to get ready for this season," Titov said. "I hope, I think, that this year I will be a better player."