Selanne Probably Out for Tonight’s Game

With their first trip to the playoffs almost within their grasp, the Mighty Ducks are taking a cautious approach to Teemu Selanne’s injury and are likely to keep him out of tonight’s game against the Calgary Flames.

“If he’s iffy, I won’t play him,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said after practice Monday. “He’s got to be pretty close to 100%.”

Selanne strained a muscle in his left side Sunday during the Ducks’ victory over Edmonton. He didn’t practice Monday but received electrical stimulation treatments and has been applying ice to the injury every couple of hours.

“It’s better, but we’ll have to see [in the morning],” said Selanne, the NHL’s second-leading scorer. “It’s painful. I can walk and it doesn’t bother me, but if I make a quick move, it hurts right away, almost like somebody put a knife in me.

“If there’s any risk, it’s better to be smart. If it’s not good and I still play, it could get worse and I could be out a longer time.”

The Ducks can survive for a game or two without Selanne, but if he were to miss a longer stretch--or even put his condition for the playoffs in doubt--they could really be in trouble.

“I’m confident we can [beat Calgary] without Teemu,” Wilson said. “I would not want to just win [tonight] then be without Teemu the rest of the road trip. . . . I think this is going to be short term. Teemu takes care of himself. We’ll see how fast a healer he is.”

In contrast to Selanne, goalie Guy Hebert practiced Monday and looks ready to play tonight despite missing the final two periods of the Edmonton game because he was exhausted and he hyperventilated.

“I’m pretty sure it will be Guy,” Coach Ron Wilson said, even indicating Hebert will probably start in Vancouver on Wednesday as well.

“Guy’s our No. 1 goalie, and he should play if he’s healthy, it’s that simple,” Wilson said.

“As long as I feel strong, I’d like to play both,” Hebert said. “[Tonight] is obviously a huge game, one I don’t want to miss.”

After leaving Sunday’s game trembling and exhausted, Hebert gulped fluids, had “a big steak” for dinner and went to bed at 8 p.m.

After Monday’s practice, defenseman Bobby Dollas stuck his head into a scrum of reporters around Hebert, affected an air of earnestness and handed Hebert a Gatorade.

“They’re all concerned about me. That’s nice to see,” Hebert said, grinning. “I’m almost sick of drinking fluids, from the game to all night to this morning. . . . I woke up this morning and felt like I had run a marathon. My body felt beat. Every part of me was sore.

“[But] I feel better today than I thought I was going to feel, and we get another whole day of rest.

“The way I feel right now, I hope to go tomorrow.”

Caution, though, is going to be the byword.

“At this point, we think we’re going to make the playoffs and we want to make sure Teemu’s healthy,” Hebert said. “We don’t want to devastate ourselves just trying to get to the playoffs. We don’t want to get there and get beat four straight. We want to get there and see what we can do.”