Blaze of Glory for Ducks

For the last two days, the Mighty Ducks read about the “Battle of Alberta” that everyone here salivated over when the rival Edmonton Oilers eliminated the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.

The air throughout the province was filled with the possibility of the first playoff matchup involving the Oilers and the Calgary Flames in 15 years. Surely, the Flames would seal their half of the deal with Game 7 being played in their raucous Pengworth Saddledome.

All along, the Ducks quietly seethed.

“They’re showing no respect for us as an organization, as a hockey team,” said forward Todd Fedoruk, a native of Alberta. “We come in here and that’s all they’re talking about. It’s Game 7. Anybody can win Game 7.”

The battle will have to wait. In a dominant performance, the Ducks finished the upset of the third-seeded Flames with a stunning 3-0 victory Wednesday night that sent them to the Western Conference semifinals.

In winning, the sixth-seeded Ducks also gained home-ice advantage as they will play host to the seventh-seeded Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 Friday.

Ruslan Salei scored a critical insurance goal and set up Teemu Selanne’s decisive goal earlier in the second period. Rookie goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 22 shots for his first career playoff shutout in only his fourth postseason game.

Jeff Friesen scored an empty-net goal in the final minute to touch off a celebration on the Duck bench and in the box where first-year General Manager Brian Burke and other team executives sat.

“I knew there were a lot of people that didn’t believe we could beat this team,” Selanne said. “It doesn’t really matter. It was perfect that they started talking about the Alberta series.”

The Ducks delivered with an effort unlike any other in the back-and-forth series.

After surviving the Flames’ initial push in the first 10 minutes, the Ducks controlled play with tenacious checking in both zones and cut off the Flames at every turn in silencing a fervent, hopeful sellout crowd.

“Tonight, for whatever reason, we had more energy,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “It seemed to me we were able to display that after we got through the first period.”

The Flames were held to three shots in the momentum-turning second period. Calgary captain Jarome Iginla was held to one shot on goal for the second consecutive game after scoring five goals in the first five games.

“I think it was the most complete game we’ve played all series,” center Todd Marchant said. “It couldn’t come at a better time. From start to finish.”

Said Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter: “I think we ran out of gas. I think they’re big, strong wingers wore our team out. I think we had to win Game 6.”

Bryzgalov, making his second consecutive start, answered the call in becoming the first rookie goaltender to record a Game 7 shutout since Felix Potvin of Toronto did it against St. Louis on May 5, 1993.

The free-spirited 25-year-old Russian credited his team’s play in front of him.

“It’s nothing special,” he said of the shutout. “I’m so excited to be going on to the next round. It doesn’t matter if we won 3-2 or 7-6.”

Selanne beat Miikka Kiprusoff to his stick side with a wrist shot at 5:12 of the second. It was the same type of shot he used to score in Game 6. Salei’s goal came with 59 seconds left in the period as his 50-foot slap shot worked its way through traffic in front of the Flame goalie.

With that working margin, the Ducks tightened up their game. They also had a strong effort on the penalty kill as they doused all four Flame chances with the man advantage.

By game’s end, they held up a pattern throughout the series that saw the team scoring first win six of the seven games.

“If we could have scored the first goal, we could have played the way they did,” Sutter said. “You could see it in the second period. Down low, we couldn’t handle them.”

Afterward, Marchant praised the Flames’ effort.

“It was the toughest series I’ve ever played in,” Marchant said. “We just had a little extra in the end.”