• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ducks douse Flames for fifth straight win

Mar 1, 2008 - 7:56 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Miikka Kiprusoff and the Calgary Flames became the latest victims of the red-hot Anaheim Ducks.

Defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Scott Niedermayer each had a goal and an assist and Teemu Selanne extended his goal-scoring streak to four games as the Ducks posted their 10th win in 11 games, a 3-1 triumph over the Flames on Friday.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 22 saves for Anaheim (37-23-7), which has won five in a row after losing the opener of its seven-game homestand. The Ducks remained three points ahead of the San Jose Sharks (35-21-8) for fourth place in the Western Conference and climbed within six of the idle Dallas Stars (41-22-5) for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

Schneider opened the scoring 35 seconds into the heated contest with his ninth goal of the season. From the slot, the veteran unleashed a wrist shot that found the top left corner of the net for a quick 1-0 lead.

Niedermayer doubled the lead with an identical shot from the top of the slot with 6:02 remaining in the first period. During a power play, fellow All-Star Ryan Getzlaf completed a pass to the 2007 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, who walked in from the left point before wristing the puck past Kiprusoff for his fifth of the campaign.

"It was a bit of a chippy first period where we could have gotten carried away," Niedermayer said. "(Coach Randy Carlyle) was not here and we were missing some key guys, but we managed to put that to the side. We just tried to play our game and got rewarded for it."

Carlyle missed the game due to the flu, leaving the team in the hands of assistant Dave Farrish, who was impressed by the club's attentiveness.

"You could tell with the way we practiced the last couple of days that there was great focus there," Farrish said. "We have such a great group of leaders in our locker room that there was no trepidation on my part at all about what was going to happen on the ice."

Ducks captain Chris Pronger missed his first game of the season with a jaw injury suffered when he was hit by an errant stick in Sunday's victory over Chicago. The former Hart and Norris Trophy winner assisted on the bench, overseeing the defense - a task usually handled by Farrish.

"I wanted to get (Pronger) an idea of what it feels like to be back there," Farrish said. "It was my idea. I thought it would be good to have him back there. He's certainly been around long enough. He's like a coach on the ice anyway."

Kiprusoff made nine saves in the first period before being replaced by veteran Curtis Joseph.

"You always have a chance, but there were a couple of very tough shots, and tonight, I wasn't able to stop them," Kiprusoff said. "The second one, I didn't see. The first one, I saw it, but it was a pretty good shot. Yeah, I'd like to stop it, but not today."

Flames coach Mike Keenan was unhappy with his team's effort in the opening 20 minutes.

"I tried to reinforce the sense of urgency yesterday with them," Keenan said. "We practiced poorly. I thought it was reflective of our start.

"Our goalie wasn't ready for the game, nor was the team. You can't give a team like Anaheim, or for that matter any team in this league, the opportunity to start a game and set the tone of the game without suffering the consequences."

Calgary captain Jarome Iginla agreed with his coach.

"In this game, the first period cost us," Iginla said. "We wanted to come out and were geared up for the game, but then we weren't controlling the puck at all. We were just giving it to them."

The opening period also saw some fisticuffs, as Anaheim's Todd Bertuzzi squared off with All-Star defenseman Dion Phaneuf of Calgary 5 1/2 minutes in. Bertuzzi received a game misconduct after his jersey came off during the tussle.

Things got rough again in the final minute of the session as Phaneuf sparked a scrum with an unpenalized takedown. During the ensuing melee, Ducks All-Star Corey Perry received six minutes in penalties, including a double-minor for spearing.

"It's definitely a rivalry that's built up over the last couple of seasons," Phaneuf said. "There's always a lot of energy in the games between us and them, but this time of year, with the way the standings are, they know how big the games are and we know how big the games are."

"They are a physical team. We have guys that are physical," Niedermayer said. "It's a physical game and things happen. It just feeds off itself."

Phaneuf got serious in the middle period, halving the Flames' deficit with a power-play goal.

Iginla held the puck while near the right wing boards before spotting Phaneuf. Cutting down the left side, the blue-liner received a pass and fired the puck into the top left corner of the net at 7:09 for his 14th of the season and ninth with the man advantage, which leads all NHL defensemen.

"Iggie made a great play through the seam, and I just tried to get it past their defensemen," Phaneuf said. "Luckily, it beat (Giguere)."

But Anaheim cashed in during a 5-on-3 late in the third to squash Calgary's comeback hopes. Standing below the left faceoff circle, Selanne took a cross-crease pass and lifted the puck past Joseph with 52 seconds remaining for his seventh goal of the campaign and sixth during his four-game streak.

Joseph finished with 13 saves over 40 minutes for Calgary, which fell to 4-1-1 in its last six.