Ducks Lose but Remain Motivated

They may have already punched their card to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the Mighty Ducks have reason to remain motivated.

Three games are left to secure fifth place in the Western Conference and firm up a probable first-round date with the suddenly vulnerable Nashville Predators. Anything to avoid the Calgary Flames.

The Ducks’ potent offense was stifled again in the Pengrowth Saddledome by the presence of star goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and a hard-hitting airtight defense in the Flames’ 3-0 victory Tuesday.

A night after beating Vancouver to clinch the fourth playoff berth in team history, the Ducks (42-25-12) were shut out for the fourth time this season and first since March 1 against Detroit.

Before Tuesday, they had gone 15-4-1, averaging nearly four goals.

“We’re a better hockey team,” center Andy McDonald said. “Mentally, we weren’t where we normally are.... We can play a better game. We’ll learn from this and put it behind us.”

The Ducks’ chance at overtaking the Predators for fourth place grew remote as Nashville defeated St. Louis to move four points ahead. Meanwhile, the Ducks’ hold on fifth slipped a bit with Colorado’s beating Phoenix to pull within two points.

A fall to sixth would mean facing the Flames and Kiprusoff, who made 32 saves in notching his NHL-leading ninth shutout. Chris Simon supported him with a second-period goal and Calgary also got goals from Daymond Langkow and Kristian Huselius 32 seconds apart to start the third against Duck goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who started for the first time since March 19.

“We just want to finish as high as we can,” forward Joffrey Lupul said. “We’re going to play the last three games to the best of our ability. Hopefully we’ll finish fourth or fifth. If we end up finishing sixth and playing these guys, that’ll be fun too. Right now, it doesn’t really matter who we play.”

Although the Hart Trophy for league most valuable player appears to be a two-man race between the New York Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr and the San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton, Kiprusoff is making a strong case.

Kiprusoff is tied with Dallas’ Marty Turco for the league lead with 41 victories and is in the top five in goals-against average and save percentage. Most of all, he seems to be the goalie who emerged in the 2004 playoffs when he led the Flames to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.

At the moment, Nashville may be the more appealing playoff alternative with star goalie Tomas Vokoun out for the season because of a blood clot in his abdomen. But the Ducks insist they will take on all comers, including the Flames.

“We’re going to have to face everyone eventually,” forward Rob Niedermayer said. “You can’t go into the playoffs with that [attitude]. Right now, we want to battle and get as high of a spot as we can.”

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The Ducks announced that tickets for the first round of the Western Conference playoffs will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at the Arrowhead Pond box office and all Ticketmaster locations and they can also be purchased either at (714) 703-2545 or online at www.mightyducks.com Left wing Jeff Friesen was a healthy scratch as Travis Moen was in the lineup for only the fifth time in 13 games.