Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Matt Beleskey tallied a goal and an assist
as the Anaheim Ducks used a 3-2 victory over Calgary to win their 19th
straight home game against the Flames at Honda Center on Tuesday.
Kyle Palmieri and Corey Perry also scored and Frederik Andersen made 32 saves
for the Ducks, who have not lost at home against Calgary since Jan. 19, 2004.
“We like to keep things interesting,” Palmieri said. “It wasn’t pretty, but at
the end of the day we got the two points.”
T.J. Brodie had a goal and an assist and Jiri Hudler lit the lamp for the
Flames, who were coming off a 5-4 shootout win over New Jersey on Saturday.
Jonas Hiller, who spent his first seven seasons between the pipes for the
Ducks, allowed all three goals on 29 shots in his return to Anaheim.
The Ducks worked the puck along the boards before the initial score of the
contest. Beleskey gathered the puck from behind the net and sent a shot from a
severe angle off Flames defenseman Kris Russell for his 10th goal of the
season and a 1-0 Anaheim lead 4:37 into the game.
Francois Beauchemin’s shot from the top of the right circle was stopped by a
group of players in front of the net, but Perry was there to tap it home for a
2-0 game just over five minutes into the second period.
Palmieri increased Anaheim’s lead to 3-0 with a great individual effort. The
right winger chipped the puck into the Calgary zone, chased it below the goal
line and outmuscled a defender to slip a backhander through Hiller’s pads with
16 seconds to play in the middle stanza.
Brodie got the Flames on the board after he fired a slap shot off Ducks
forward Devante Smith-Pelly with a under nine minutes to play in regulation.
The Flames had a goal waved off with 3:11 to play after video review showed
that Johnny Gaudreau kicked the puck into the net. Hudler, however, made it a
one-goal game with 25 seconds left and the goaltender pulled after he
redirected Mark Giordano’s slapshot past Andersen.
“We can’t just hope we win every game in the last five minutes,” said Hiller.
“We’ve got to be ready from the first minute on.”
Game Notes
The Ducks own a 20-7-2 record against the Flames dating back to Nov. 29, 2007
… Beauchemin left the game with an upper-body injury … Forward Rene
Bourque, who was acquired by Anaheim from Montreal on Thursday, registered his
first point the Ducks with an assist on Palmieri’s goal … Anaheim improved
to 11-0-4 this season when scoring first … The season series will resume
back at Honda Center on Jan. 21.
