They Must Catch Him to Hit Him

Scott Niedermayer is the Mighty Ducks’ highest-paid player, their emotional leader and the man who logs more ice time than anyone else on their roster.

It is no surprise that he is the focus of the Calgary Flames’ game plan in the Western Conference first-round playoff series. Their plan is to wear him down.

“He’s a big key for their club,” Flame captain Jarome Iginla said Sunday. “The amount of minutes he plays, we’re trying to make sure we all finish our checks. He’s a difficult guy to finish on. He doesn’t put himself in position to be hit very often and especially hard.

“The more we can try to get our hits on him, the better.”

So far, it has been easier said than done. Niedermayer scored a short-handed goal in the first period of the Ducks’ 4-3 Game 2 victory.

“The one thing about Scotty Niedermayer, he can give a body check also,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said.

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Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby figure to be the top candidates for NHL rookie of the year, but if the voting were up for Carlyle, he would choose Flame defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

Phaneuf had 20 goals in his first season and established a reputation as one of the league’s biggest hitters.

“I think he’s the class” of the rookie group, Carlyle said. “To take nothing away from Ovechkin or Crosby but what he has been able to accomplish and his impact on his team, the way he plays the game, I think he’s very deserving of the award.”

Carlyle, a former defenseman, said he preferred the 21-year-old Phaneuf because the position is harder for a young player to learn.

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Calgary center Daymond Langkow has been with four teams in his 10-year career, but he said no atmosphere he has experienced compared to the boisterous sea of red that greeted the Flames on Friday night.

“Philly was a great atmosphere,” Langkow said. “The building was always full. But Game 1 was the loudest I’ve ever heard in a building. It was unreal. It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before or been a part of. You come out on the ice and hear that, you get goose bumps. It’s unbelievable.”

Langkow played three years in Phoenix. When asked if the atmosphere there compared, the forward said with a grin, “No. Close. Not really.”

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Former Duck Mike Leclerc was in the Flame lineup after being a healthy scratch in Game 1. When informed that Leclerc told reporters he was in, Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter had fun with the news, saying, “So he said he’s in. Maybe he should show up at 7:06 after they get all the singing out of the way.”