Flames Get a Handle on How to Beat Ducks

CALGARY — If you don’t stop Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, it can be pretty difficult to beat the Mighty Ducks. After all, they’ve never lost a game when both scored a goal.

But slow those two down, as the Calgary Flames did Wednesday night in a 2-1 victory at the Saddledome, and the battle is almost won.

Humiliated by a 7-0 loss to the Ducks last month in which Kariya had a career-high five points, Calgary held Kariya and Selanne to one point--an assist by Selanne.

The Flames halted Kariya’s seven-game point streak, and snuffed out Selanne’s streak of five consecutive games with a goal. He extended his point streak to eight games, but barely.

“They always had four guys back,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We couldn’t penetrate. They played a strong defensive game.”

The Flames’ penalty-killers thwarted the Ducks’ power play seven times, but their own power play came through. Both Calgary goals came with a man advantage.

The loss sends the Ducks into the All-Star break tied with the Kings and Flames for ninth place.

“It was a four-point game, playing within our conference,” said Kariya, who was stopped on four shots. “They’re all important, but especially games against teams right behind you. We just didn’t play a good game.”

Calgary goalie Trevor Kidd missed a shutout by only 16 seconds, allowing a goal on the first shift when Steve Rucchin tipped Bobby Dollas’ point shot, then shutting out the Ducks for 59 minutes and 44 seconds.

The Ducks were held to 21 shots, but put several on net in the final minute after Guy Hebert was pulled for an extra attacker, Kidd thwarting them every time.

“We had our offensive chances,” Kariya said. I had three or four point-blank shots, but they played well defensively and Trevor played well.”

The Ducks suddenly have quite the All-Star lineup after goalie Guy Hebert was added as an injury replacement Wednesday, meaning the ninth-place Ducks have three players competing in the All-Star game--more than any Western Conference team except Detroit, which also has three. (Colorado would have had four but has only two because of injuries.)

But after those three, the Ducks still yearn for depth. They didn’t get any help from their second line Wednesday, but that’s nothing new. Kevin Todd, once one of their most productive players, hasn’t scored a goal in 18 games, and Jari Kurri has one in his last 13.

The Ducks scored first for the 10th game in a row, but lost the lead 11:28 into the game when Yves Racine’s power-play shot from the blue line beat Guy Hebert.

Theoren Fleury, the Flames’ only All-Star, scored the eventual game-winner.

Hebert made some big saves, but Fleury got to him on a power play with 36 seconds left in the second when poked the puck into the net from behind Hebert. Fleury found the puck free in front of the goal line after Hebert made the initial stop on Tommy Albelin’s point shot.

“It was free,” Wilson said. “The referee made the right decision. If the puck isn’t frozen, he doesn’t have to blow the whistle.”

The game was a physical one, with Duck winger Joe Sacco suffering what he believed to be a concussion when he was driven into the boards by Jamie Huscroft in the third period.

“We play a team like that, where we kind of ran up the score in the third period the last time, and you can expect a team to play nasty,” winger Warren Rychel said. “That was a playoff type of game, and we’ve got to learn how to win them. You have to play ugly, dump the puck, even get hurt sometimes. It was a huge game, a four-pointer. We can’t make excuses. We didn’t play hard enough.”