Calgary Could Teach Ducks About Road

ANAHEIM — If this was Sunday, the Calgary Flames must have been in . . . wait a second, the itinerary is around here someplace.

Let’s see, there was Washington on March 4, Hartford on March 5, Florida on March 7, Tampa Bay on March 9, Colorado last Wednesday, Inglewood on Saturday and . . . oh, yeah, the Pond on Sunday.

Finally, the Flames reached the end of a grueling seven-game, 15-day tour of the United States.

Somehow, the Flames fashioned a 2-2 tie with the Mighty Ducks at the Pond and headed home to Calgary exhausted but happy after a 3-3-1 record on their trip.

“It feels great to be going home,” said center Dave Gagner, who scored the game-tying goal at the 6:43 mark of the third period. “It seems like we’ve been gone too long. I’ve never been on a trip like this.”

The Flames’ trip was a frequent-flier mileage builder, to be sure, but they are not alone in making such journeys. The Ducks have their own mega-mileage trip coming up later this week.

It could make or break the Ducks’ season, judging by the looks of the competition. After concluding their four-game homestand Wednesday against the Kings, the Ducks start with Colorado on Friday, then play Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Chicago and Detroit.

Of the six, only Vancouver has fallen from playoff contention. Everyone else is jockeying for better position.

“It looks like we could finish anywhere from fifth to 10th right now,” Gagner said of the Flames’ chances down the stretch. Calgary is locked in an eighth-place tie with Chicago.

The Ducks, in a tie for fifth with Phoenix and St. Louis, have another thing in common with Calgary: neither has been very good on the road this season. The Ducks are 9-18-6 and the Flames are 11-21-6.

“We haven’t been good on the road this season and we felt like we had something to prove on this trip,” Gagner said.

When asked if he had any tips for the Ducks on their upcoming trip, Gagner was not forthcoming except to recommend heavy doses of sleep and HBO.

“We have our own secrets,” he said, laughing. “Let them learn on their own.”

Actually, the best advice the Flames could give the Ducks is to play sound defense. Calgary did not give up more than two goals in any of their seven road games.

“We pride ourselves on our defense,” said goaltender Trevor Kidd, who stopped 29 of 31 Duck shots. “Thinking about it now, I’d have to say that defense is the reason we got points on the trip.

“We’ve got seven games at home now and we’ve got to play with the same sort of desperation we did on this road trip. It was a long trip that’s for sure.”

Calgary muzzled Duck wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne on Sunday. They were shut out in goals or assists for the second consecutive game. It’s the first time this season Kariya and Selanne have been held without a goal in consecutive games.

“Any time you can keep Kariya and Selanne off the score sheet more than likely you’ll have an opportunity to win,” said Kidd, who gave up goals to Joe Sacco and Sean Pronger.

That’s hardly a league-wide secret and you can bet the Ducks’ upcoming opponents will seize on neutralizing Kariya (34 goals) and Selanne (43).

Calgary seemed to get it right on Sunday, capping a standout defensive run on the road.

“I don’t know if it’s the best all year, but we’ve been playing good defense at the right time,” Calgary Coach Pierre Page said. “But you’ve got to make good decisions on the ice. It doesn’t matter where you play--home or away.”