Ducks beat Flames behind strong power-plays
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The Anaheim Ducks remained on a roll with help from their power play.
Corey Perry had a goal and an assist and the Ducks went 3-for-3 with the man advantage in a 6-4 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday.
"We're having fun," Perry said. "Everybody knows their role, everybody's playing their role and everyone's doing the right things. It's working out right now."
With a 9-1-1 record in its past 11 games, Anaheim has passed San Jose and climbed into second place in the Pacific Division.
Perry tied the game 3-3 at 2:15 of the second when he banged a Cam Fowler rebound past Jonas Hiller on the power play.
The Ducks went right back to the man advantage and needed only 11 seconds to take the lead for good with the puck going in off the skate of Sami Vatanen at 3:20.
"All of us, we've got to get down, we've got to block some shots and not let them get to our net," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "There's way too many pucks around our crease. You're going to get burnt if you keep allowing that."
Mike Santorelli scored twice Hamphus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell also scored for Anaheim. The Ducks are 3-1-1 with two games to go on a seven-game road trip.
Jiri Hudler had two goals and an assist to lead Calgary. Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists and Sean Monahan had three assists as the Flames' top line combined for nine points. Dougie Hamilton also scored.
"They made it tough. They're a big team so they keep you on the outside and they push you back, but I felt that scoring four goals at home should be plenty enough to leave the building with two points," Flames coach Bob Hartley said.
Hiller was pulled after Vatanen's goal, leaving with 13 saves on 17 shots. Joni Ortio, in his first NHL action since October, didn't fare much better. He was beaten on the second shot he faced, as Rakell's goal at 12:18 of the second period put Anaheim ahead 5-3.
Ortio finished with nine saves.
Calgary rallied within one on Hudler's goal with 7 seconds left in the second, but the Ducks regained their two-goal cushion 51 seconds into the third on Santorelli's second of the game.
"It's always nice when you have a couple goal lead on a team. It takes off a little bit of the pressure off," Santorelli said.
From that point forward with momentum gone for the Flames, the Ducks didn't give Calgary very many chances.
"I said in between periods, the only way I think we can lose is if we get into a track meet with these guys and you go chance for chance or take dumb penalties," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "In the first period we took four and the last period we took none. It's a big difference between winning and losing, doing the right little things."
The Flames' short-handed struggles continued. Calgary has allowed three power-play goals in three consecutive games and the Flames are last in the NHL at 73.4 percent. At home, they've allowed 20 goals on 68 opportunities.
"It's really frustrating," Flames center Mikael Backlund said. "We were doing so much better after Christmas and we were trying to build on it. It's tough to have so many penalties the last two games and today and not be able to kill them."
Andersen finished with 33 saves to improve to 13-8-6.
NOTES: Calgary scratches were Kris Russell (lower body), David Jones (lower body) and Matt Stajan (maintenance). ... Anton Khudobin dressed as the Ducks' backup goaltender with John Gibson (upper body) unable to play. ... There was no update on the condition of Flames goaltender Karri Ramo, who was placed on IR after hurting his leg Thursday. He was spotted entering the arena on Monday walking with a cane.