Ducks’ Victory Over Flames Is Special

Ladislav Kohn was there and so was the puck. A lot of frustration was about to come to an end.

Kohn scored--how could he not on an almost empty net--at 13 minutes 11 seconds of the third period to give the Mighty Ducks a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.

The Ducks ended a three-game losing streak. Kohn had his first goal as a Duck and his first in 31 games. The power play ended a 0-for-14 scoreless streak, covering nearly six games.

Happy? You bet.

“It hit me in front somewhere,” Kohn said. “At this point, I don’t really care.”

You could almost hear Coach Craig Hartsburg sigh, “Amen.”

It all happened in semi-privacy. An announced crowd of 12,922 showed up at the Arrowhead Pond, the smallest in franchise history. But this was a good start to a four-game homestand.

At least the Ducks were there.

“We’re learning what price we have to pay consistently to win,” Hartsburg said. “It’s easy to get ready for one game, but to do it for 82 games is something young players and teams have to learn. Sometimes that is not an easy process to go through.’

The process had bogged down lately, mainly because of poor special-team play. The power play had no oomph and the only thing the penalty-killing units were killing was the Ducks.

Wednesday’s performance was not an over-night cure, but it was a step forward.

“We were better,” Hartsburg said.

The Ducks let a 1-0 third-period lead slip away when they were out-worked for one of the few times all evening.

The Flames’ Valeri Bure pushed the puck up ice while being taken down, Jeff Shantz picked it up in the Duck zone. He then fed a perfect center pass to Cory Stillman, who beat both goalie Guy Hebert and a sliding Oleg Tverdovsky to tie the score, 1-1, at 8:19 of the third period.

The Ducks, and Kohn, didn’t wait long to answer.

Jason Wiemer was sent off for high sticking at 12:14. The Duck power play, scoreless in two chances, had one more opportunity.

Paul Kariya sent in a shot and Steve Rucchin redirected it to the left, where Kohn was. The puck deflected off him and into the net for the Ducks’ first power-play goal since Nov. 3 against Philadelphia.

It was Kohn’s first goal since Feb. 22 against Washington, when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“You don’t want to think about those things out there, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t something that was on my mind,” Kohn said. “I have been getting chances. This was a relief.”

As were the Duck penalty killers, who had given up six goals in the last eight chances and ranked last in the NHL.

The Ducks found a novel approach to solving that problem. They stayed out of the penalty box. The Flames had only two power plays.

“We have been doing some good things five-on-five, but the penalty killing seems to put us in a hole every game,” Hartsburg said. “If it was easy to fix, we would have done it. I think our guys have to be hungrier. It’s got to get better because it can’t get any worse.”

It didn’t.

Pavel Trnka was sent off for interference after low-bridging Stillman at 9:38 of the second period. It was the only power play the Flames had through two periods and they didn’t even get a shot off.

Hebert did the work when Kariya went off for tripping early in the third period. He made four saves, including snagging a wicked slap shot by Marc Savard.

“We’re finding a way to win some nights and some nights we don’t seem to have the discipline,” said Hebert, who stopped 29 of 30 shots.

It helps when the bounces are going your way.

In the first period, Tverdovsky dumped the puck into the corner and Flame goalie Fred Brathwaite moved behind the net, expecting the puck to come to him. Instead, it ricocheted straight out to the Ducks’ Marty McInnis, who fed an open Antti Aalto on the left side of the net.

Brathwaite never had a chance and the Ducks’ had a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game.