Franchise-Low Crowd Sees Flames Beat Listless Ducks

Craig Hartsburg had every right to be concerned Wednesday. He warned the Mighty Ducks about the Calgary Flames. He told them the Flames were a desperate team, searching for a win any way they could get one.

So, what happened?

All of Hartsburg’s pleading to take the Flames seriously went in one ear and out the other. That’s what happened. And the Ducks lost, 2-1, in front of an announced crowd of 13,542, a franchise low, at the Arrowhead Pond.

Jarome Iginla scored the game-winning goal for Calgary at 8 minutes 38 seconds of the third period. The listless Ducks had no response, flailing and failing to produce a game-tying goal in the final minutes.

Goaltender Fred Brathwaite, playing only his third NHL game of the season, stopped 31 shots for the Flames. Brathwaite had played 22 games with the Canadian national team before injuries to their top goalies prompted the Flames to sign him Jan. 7.

And Calgary killed off an interference penalty to Todd Simpson with 1:57 left to preserve the victory.

This was not exactly what Hartsburg had in mind as the Ducks reached the midway point of his first season as their coach. But he knew something like this was possible.

After all, he has been the Duck coach for 41 games now and has watched them streak and slump--sometimes all in the same game. Wednesday, the Ducks dipped below the .500 mark at 16-17-8.

“We’ve made some progress, but we’re nowhere as good as we should be,” Hartsburg said. “We’ve got too many guys that are too easily satisfied. Tonight, we weren’t hungry enough to be a good team. Every game is important. Obviously, we didn’t take tonight’s game as seriously as we should have.”

The question was, why?

“It shouldn’t be hard [to get ready to play a team such as Calgary],” said winger Marty McInnis, whose errant neutral-zone pass led to the Flames’ second goal. “So many teams are equal in this league. We should have come out with more excitement and energy. I don’t know why we didn’t.”

Falling behind, 1-0, midway through the first period probably had a great deal to do with the Ducks’ flat performance against the Flames (14-25-3).

What’s more, the Ducks’ failure to record so much as a single shot on goal during a power-play opportunity only 50 seconds into the game set the tone for a dismal night of hockey.

“We’ve got to get off to better starts,” McInnis said of the Ducks’ 1-0 first-period deficit. “We can’t keep getting behind.”

Duck defenseman Fredrik Olausson countered Jason Wiemer’s first-period goal for Calgary with a power-play goal at 9:10 of the second period.

But that’s all the Ducks got past Brathwaite (2-1).

The Ducks went into full scramble mode after Simpson went to the penalty box for interference against Duck center Matt Cullen late in the game.

But the Flames swiped the puck from the Ducks again and again, killing off the first minute or so of the penalty with ease.

When they finally got their power-play set up, the Ducks couldn’t beat Brathwaite. Paul Kariya whipped a dangerous-looking shot from near the blue line on net, but Brathwaite smothered the shot.

* NICE BONUS: Craig Hartsburg said strong play from three unexpected sources has been a pleasant surprise. Page 12