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Defensemen Lift Ducks Over Flames 3-1

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[March 01, 2008]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Scott Niedermayer each had a goal and an assist, Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 22 saves and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.

The Flames had to play shorthanded for the final 3:18 after Kristian Huselius got a double-minor for cutting Rob Niedermayer with a high stick in the Anaheim zone. They were two-men short for the final 1:27 after Dion Phaneuf got a holding penalty, two more minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, and a 10-minute misconduct.

Teemu Selanne completed the scoring with 52 seconds left during the 5-on-3 advantage. He has seven goals and five assists in 11 games since his return, and the Ducks are 10-1 during that stretch.

The defending Stanley Cup champions beat Calgary at home for the seventh straight time. Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle was not behind the bench because of the flu, but was in the arena. Assistant coach Dave Farrish, whose primary responsibility is the penalty-killing unit, ran the team with help from assistant coach Newell Brown and injured team captain Chris Pronger.

Pronger wasn't able to play after undergoing surgery to repair a small fracture in his jaw. The All-Star defenseman was hurt on a freak play during Sunday's win against Chicago, when Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks scored on a wrist shot and the blade of his stick inadvertently struck Pronger on the follow-through.

Doug Weight and Todd Marchant also were out of the lineup with shoulder injuries. The Ducks also lost right wing Todd Bertuzzi with a game misconduct after his fight with Phaneuf at 5:31 of the first period, because the back of his Bertuzzi's jersey was not properly tied down.

Anaheim scored on its first shot of the game, as Schneider wristed a 20-footer over Miikka Kiprusoff's glove from the slot just 35 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Scott Niedermayer made it 2-0 on a power play, using Calgary's Eric Nystrom as a screen and beating Kiprusoff high to the glove side with a 40-foot slap shot from the slot while Phaneuf was off for holding Samuel Pahlsson.

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Curtis Joseph replaced Kiprusoff at the start of the second period and stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced. The Flames got on the board at 7:09 of the second during a power play, as Phaneuf got a cross-ice pass from Jarome Iginla and put a 15-foot wrist shot past Giguere's glove for his 14th goal while Schneider was off for holding Iginla.

Calgary nearly tied it with 15:39 to play. Phaneuf got a pass in the neutral zone and went in alone on net after cutting between Schneider and defense partner Kent Huskins, but Giguere stood his ground and stopped Phaneuf's short wrist shot with his right leg.

Notes:@ The Ducks conclude their seven-game homestand Monday night against Ottawa, their first meeting with the Senators since beating them in the Stanley Cup Finals. The last two times the teams that met in the finals faced each other the following season, the defending champion lost. Carolina beat Detroit 6-4 in a rematch of 2002, and Edmonton beat Carolina 3-1 in a rematch of 2006. ... Phaneuf has 149 penalty minutes in 65 games, 51 more than he had in 79 games last season and 56 more than he accumulated as a rookie in 2005-06. ... Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron made his Ducks debut following his acquisition from the New York Islanders just before Tuesday's trading deadline.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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