Decision Time for the Ducks

Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs usually brings out many things in hockey teams. Nervousness. Intensity. Desperation. Heroism.

Something else can be added to the list in advance of tonight’s decisive Western Conference first-round series game between the Mighty Ducks and the Calgary Flames that will be played in front of another raucous red-clad crowd at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Gamesmanship.

In what has been a tightly officiated series, Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter fired the first salvo Tuesday with his review of the referees’ performance to date, particularly the Game 6 work of Don Koharski and Rob Shick.

After the Flames’ 2-1 loss Monday, Sutter suggested the number of penalties called against his team changed the momentum of the hockey game. A little more than 12 hours later, the veteran coach continued in that vein.

“One team’s had seven five-on-threes and the other team hasn’t had any,” Sutter said. “We talk about the obstruction part of it and with Jarome [Iginla], it’s like they’re stuck on him. I think last night was certainly a different situation than what we’ve seen.”

Sutter’s comments were measured in tone and seemingly calculated to ensure his team gets its fair share of the calls tonight. On Monday, the Flames took 11 minor penalties and two of them resulted in two-man advantages for the Ducks.

The Ducks converted on only one of nine power-play chances, but it was the one that counted as captain Scott Niedermayer scored the game-winning goal with 5:37 to play while Calgary center Stephane Yelle was in the box for tripping.

The Flames aren’t the only ones to claim foul. In the first period, Teemu Selanne had a goal disallowed when Koharski ruled that Joffrey Lupul had interfered with Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff even though television replays appeared to show that the puck crossed the line well before Lupul crashed into the net.

“If we wanted to talk about refereeing inequities, we have a long list too,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “I don’t think this is the forum to do it in.”

Otherwise, Carlyle refused to be drawn into a controversy.

“I guess the comment to that is the league had put a mandate in that they were going to adhere to the strict policy of calling the penalties,” he said. “If there’s a foul committed, it doesn’t matter if there was a man in the penalty box. They’re going to continue to make that call.”

A total of 116 series have gone to seven games since the NHL introduced the best-of-seven format in 1939, with the home team winning 63% of the time.

The Ducks have previously reached Game 7 twice in their 12-year history. In 1997, they defeated Phoenix to clinch the franchise’s first playoff series win. There is also their most famous one to date, a 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the 2003 Stanley Cup finals.

Only six current Ducks remain from that team -- Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Rob Niedermayer, Andy McDonald, Ruslan Salei, Samuel Pahlsson and Vitaly Vishnevski. Scott Niedermayer, who was a critical part of that New Jersey team, said the nature of a deciding game is unique.

“Obviously, it’s the fact that someone’s going to win the series,” Niedermayer said. “It carries that much more weight and obviously we’re in that situation now. This game will have that magnitude for both teams.

“It’s pretty exciting. Being out there, playing every shift, it is that much more important. It has a special meaning for sure.”

Calgary knows about the swing of emotions a Game 7 can bring. In 2004, the Flames won a first-round series against Vancouver with an overtime win on the road that started their own surprising run to the Cup finals.

The feeling was different when they would take Tampa Bay to the limit before absorbing a 2-1 defeat to lose the Cup to the Lightning. Now they will play host to their first series-deciding game since 1995, when they fell to San Jose in double overtime.

“That’s why you battle all year for this,” Flame center Daymond Langkow said of home-ice advantage. “Hopefully it will pay off for us.”

The Ducks figure to start Ilya Bryzgalov again in goal after the rookie made 21 saves Monday to win his first playoff game. Left wing Todd Fedoruk made his first appearance since Game 3, playing 11 1/2 minutes after suffering “internal bruising” from an open-ice hit.

No team has won two games in a row in the series, something the Ducks must do to move on.

“Last game, we needed to win or go home,” Selanne said. “Now it’s the same on both sides. It’ll be awesome.”

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Seventh heaven

The home team has the biggest Game-7 advantage in the NBA, followed by the NHL and Major League Baseball.

Game-seven outcomes:

- National Hockey League

116 games

Home team wins

73 (63%)

Visiting team wins

43 (37%)

- Major League Baseball

46 games

Home team wins

25 (54%)

Visiting team wins

21 (46%)

- National Basketball Assn.

92 games

Home team wins

75 (82%)

Visiting team wins

17 (18%)

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Sources: NHL, Elias

Sports Bureau. Graphics reporting by Joel Greenberg