Ducks 2, Flames 1. Update.
Randy Carlyle often says he only requires his goaltender to "give us a chance to win." Tellingly, he went with Jean-Sebastien Giguere in net, giving Jonas Hiller a third day's rest, and the Ducks' defense give Giguere a chance to record a shutout.
After a sluggish start Calgary scored a late goal to ruin the shutout, but Anaheim walked away with an important win against the current No. 3 team in the West. Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry scored off similar offensive-zone turnovers by Calgary in the first and second periods, respectively, and Giguere finished with 26 saves for his first win since Jan. 11 -- and just his second since Dec. 14.
Giguere looked good, which is an encouraging sign. The Ducks' defense looked even better, albeit against a Calgary team that lost its fourth straight. The Ducks succeeded at times in spite of themselves; Giguere allowed several rebounds that, had even one Calgary player been alert enough to anticipate, would have been easy goals. Brendan Morrison, centering a fourth line between George Parros and Mike Brown, committed a potentially devastating holding penalty with 54 seconds left. Again, the Ducks' D clamped down and Calgary couldn't capitalize.
The teams tango again at Honda Center on Wednesday. Giguere certainly earned his third straight start, and Andrew Ebbett seems to have supplanted Morrison as the entrenched second-line center. The checking line is also worth keeping an eye on, as Ryan Carter was a healthy scratch Saturday in favor of Todd Marchant; Rob Niedermayer was also back in the lineup.
Said Flames coach Mike Keenan:
"I thought it was a very tight first period, not generating much offense on either side. They capitalized on a couple of opportunities that we gave them as a result of defensive posturing as far as turning the puck over. And the other part is we couldn't produce again - I guess it's the same comment I made last game - our power play couldn't generate the offense that probably would have made a difference for us tonight."
"We are going to have to work on two things that will make our power play more successful. One is structure of it and two is we have to work on our work. When you have the man advantage you know penalty-killers are going to work very hard, which our group did again. A very successful penalty killing group for us and for them. No power play goals for two consecutive games. When you have penalty-killing units that work that hard then you have to work on your work. That means outworking the people first and having puck possession, which gives you a challenge because you have to do two things, you need to outwork them and then at the same time control the puck."
"He (McElhinney) gave us a really good solid NHL game and that's all you can expect."
"We played three in four nights and we traveled to
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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