Ducks Score 6, Win Game of Pond Hockey in Calgary

Usually, getting offensive contributions from 12 different players is a recipe for a stellar game.  Today's 6-4 matinee victory over Calgary was sloppy at best.  Anaheim came into the President's Day game (Family Day for our Canadian readers) feeling pretty good about themselves after dominating in Chicago Saturday night.  Calgary plays a fast brand of hockey the Ducks felt they needed to stymie in order to leave Calgary with a win.

Calgary came out of the locker room ready to go.  An early too many men penalty against Anaheim put them on their heels and a tripping penalty near the end of the kill set Calgary up nicely.  While the Flames didn't take the 5-on-3, choosing to play 6-on-4 for nearly a minute, it wasn't necessary.  Less than a minute into the Getzlaf minor, Gaudreau carried the puck along the goalline and tried to stuff it under Andersen's right pad.  A nice crosscheck to the Flames forward's back, courtesy of Kevin Bieksa, was just enough to move Andersen to allow to puck to slide in to give Calgary the early lead.

Just 3 minutes later, Anaheim got their first chance at the man-advantage.  Garbutt's speed into the offense zone drew a tripping call against Calgary.  Just over a minute into the powerplay, big Patrick Maroon established himself in front of Jonas Hiller.  Hampus Lindholm got two tries from the point, potting his second one behind Hiller who never saw the show to tie the game at 1.  Soon after, as Perron attempted to draw a hooking call against Sean Monahan and was instead called for holding the stick.  A Dougie Hamilton point shot off the ensuing draw put the Flames up 2-1 with the Ducks penalty kill going 1-3 to that point.

Calgary did not hold the lead for long.  Barely two minutes later, Mike Santorelli received a pass at the Flames blueline from Cam Fowler.  Santorelli carried into the zone, pulled up in the high slot and sniped the top left corner.  A key screen in front of Hiller by Nate Thompson made so Hiller never saw the shot until it was behind him.  Jiri Hudler finished the period off with a goal off a lucky bounce.  Hudler's shot from Andersen's left hit Depres and seemed to fool the Anaheim netminder as it trickled through the five-hole.  Calgary went to the locker room with a 3-2 lead and a powerplay to start the second thanks to a tripping call against Corey Perry.

Anaheim killed off the Calgary man-advantage to start the second, helped along by a tripping penalty against Johnny Gaudreau 1:20 in.  The resulting powerplay saw the Ducks even things up quickly.  A Fowler shot from the slot produced a nice rebound that Corey Perry moved from skate to stick to score his 22nd of the year, tying the game at 3 apiece.  Anaheim wasn't done there, however.  Just a minute later, Silfverberg drew a holding call in the Calgary zone to put Anaheim up a man yet again.  A shot from Cam Fowler produced a rebound and a scrum in front of the Flames net.  Mikael Backlund's clearing attempt went of of Sami Vatanen's skate and into the Calgary goal to give Anaheim their first lead of the night.  This would spell the end of Jonas Hiller's night as he was replaced by Joni Ortio after making 13 saves on 17 shots (.765 SV%).

Just past the halfway mark of the period, Anaheim would widen their lead.  A neutral zone turnover by the Flames sent Corey Perry into the zone with possession.  A nice pass to Rickard Rakell set the Ducks center up for a perfect shot into the top left corner of the net.  Nick Ritchie, in his first game back with the big club, set himself up in front of Ortio to again not allow a Calgary netminder to read the incoming shot.  Hudler closed the gap between his team and the Ducks late in the second.  After a beautiful, sprawling save by Ortio, a shot by Sean Monahan hit the crossbar and Hudler deposited the rebound for his second of the night, ending the second period with Anaheim up 5-4.

The third period was a lot less exciting.  The Ducks came out of the locker room and brought their lead back to 2 on Mike Santorelli's second goal of the night less than a minute into the third period.  Santorelli went to the fron of the net and got a touch on a shot from Josh Manson, tipping the puck over Ortio's right pad.  Afterwards, Anaheim parked the bus in their zone and were content to defend the 2 goal gap.  The Flames recorded 13 shots on goal in the final frame but were unable to get another behind Frederik Andersen.

Early penalties and some lax play in the defensive zone made this game much harder on Anaheim than it needed to be.  Andersen played well to hold Calgary to only 4 goals.  Now 3-1-1 on their long road trip, Anaheim continues on to play in Edmonton tomorrow night at 6pm PST.