Niedermayer Earns His Keep for Ducks

It cost $27 million for the Mighty Ducks to land prized free agent Scott Niedermayer when the NHL reopened for business last August after a nasty lockout.

Call it money well spent with some good fortune attached.

Niedermayer added another moment to his list of postseason heroics Monday night as his goal off Calgary defenseman Rhett Warrener with 5 minutes 37 seconds left gave the Ducks a 2-1 victory over the Flames in Game 6 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the Arrowhead Pond.

Already the possessor of three Stanley Cup titles with the New Jersey Devils, Niedermayer signed with the Ducks in part to play alongside brother Rob and take on a new challenge. In turn, the Norris Trophy-winning defenseman has become their captain and emotional leader.

The winning play was mostly his doing and partly the result of good luck. He jumped on a rebound of a Corey Perry shot and swept quickly around the net to try to get a pass to rookie Dustin Penner in the slot.

The pass didn’t make it to Penner but instead bounced off Warrener’s skate and into the net as Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and the Flames looked on in disbelief.

“I was trying to make a pass,” Niedermayer said. “I knew we had to have some guys in front of the net, so I just threw it there and it went in. It’ll look good on the sheet.”

The victory improved the Ducks’ all-time record to 4-0 in Game 6 of a postseason series. They’ll now play in a Game 7 for the third time Wednesday night at Calgary.

“You have to be focused on the task at hand, and our focus was to win the hockey game,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “If we didn’t win, we were going home. Now we found a way to get it to seven games.”

The Ducks have been resilient all season, and they needed to tap into that characteristic again after a Game 5 defeat that left players unanimously discouraged at their performance.

There were more obstacles Monday. They gave up the first goal in a series in which the team that had done that had won the first five games. They also had a first-period goal disallowed when television replays appeared to show that it should have counted.

Facing elimination, there wasn’t time to sit and wonder about their fate.

“We fought through a lot of things this year,” Niedermayer said. “We had to move on. We didn’t have a choice. This was our last chance.

“We were playing to have one more game. Now we have it.”

After Flame center Stephane Yelle scored in the first period, Teemu Selanne tied the score at the 7:49 mark of the second with his second goal of the series.

But the Ducks also failed to cash in opportunities with two-man advantages late in the second period and midway through the third. Kiprusoff continually kept them at bay with key saves, including third-period stops on Selanne and Scott Niedermayer.

Good fortune again came their way later in the third. Calgary forward Kristian Huselius hit the crossbar with a backhanded shot on a breakaway.

“A lucky save,” the Ducks’ Ilya Bryzgalov said. “The hockey gods were on my side.”

Faced with a goaltending decision he said wouldn’t be difficult, Carlyle turned to Bryzgalov after Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up three goals in eight shots Saturday in the 3-2 Game 5 defeat.

In Game 1, Bryzgalov started while Giguere sat out because of an apparent leg injury and looked confident in making 28 saves, though the Ducks lost 2-1 in overtime.

After Giguere was pulled early in the second period Saturday, Bryzgalov came and stopped all 19 shots he faced. Though he insisted he hadn’t been told in the morning, Bryzgalov said he wouldn’t feel any pressure if he got the start.

“It’s my first year in the NHL and it’s the time to learn something,” he said. “The playoffs are new for me, and it’s a good occasion.”

With his team needing a strong effort in goal, Bryzgalov didn’t look as confident early, but he finished with 21 saves and got a much better effort from the defense in front of him.