ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks needed just five good minutes of hockey to earn a point Sunday.
Petr Sykora scored twice in the final 4:05 to draw the Ducks into a 2-2 tie with the Calgary Flames. The point moved the Ducks (36-26-8-4, 83 points) ahead of Minnesota (82 points) into sixth place in the Western Conference.
The tie extended the Flames' winless streak in Anaheim to nine games (0-4-3-2). Calgary has not won at the Pond since Jan. 13, 1999.
"We played our hearts out and deserved better," said Flames coach Darryl Sutter.
Calgary goalie Jamie McLennan appeared on his way to his first shutout of the season after making a chest save on a penalty shot by Paul Kariya with 9:55 to play.
But Sykora scored his first goal with 4:05 to go, starting the Ducks' rally. Then, with goalie Jean-Sebastien Gigure on the bench for an extra attacker, Sykora gathered the puck behind the Calgary goal and quickly pulled it forward around the post. He put it in off McLennan to even the score with just 31 seconds left in regulation.
"Many nights that things are not going your way, you just put it out of your mind," said Sykora, who has four goals in the past four games. "As long as you keep your legs moving and as long as you put the puck on net, you can get a bounce."
This bounce got Anaheim a tie.
"They went out and earned a point in the third period," said McLennan, who faced 17 shots in the final 25 minutes. "They turned it up. We fought hard, but they took it to us in the third period."
Jarome Iginla and Toni Lydman scored second-period power play goals to put the Flames ahead.
Calgary failed to score during two power-play opportunities against the top-ranked Anaheim penalty-killing unit in the first period. But Iginla swiped a rebound by Giguere with just 31 seconds to go on a four-minute hooking penalty on Anaheim defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski to make it 1-0.
Iginla has 18 goals in his last 19 games.
Lydman fired a wrist shot from the left point over Giguere's right shoulder during another Flames power play.
"We could have put it away when it was 2-0, we had other opportunities, but we did not capitalize," said Flames center Craig Conroy.
Kariya was hauled down by Andrew Ference on a partial breakaway midway through the third, setting up the fourth penalty shot of his career.
"I was looking to go stick (side), but it really wasn't there," said Kariya who is now 2-for-4 on penalty shots, having also failed on his try on March 18, 1999 against the Kings' Stephane Fiset. "I didn't have much."
The missed penalty shot helped extend Kariya's stretch without a goal to 10 games.
Notes
- Anaheim could not score during an extended 5-on-3 power play, or on three others in the game. The Ducks are 0-for-29 on the power play during the past seven games.
- Mighty Ducks playoff tickets went on sale Sunday afternoon. Less than 2,000 tickets remain for each first-round home playoff game.
- Rob Niedermayer skated against the Flames for the first time since being traded to Anaheim from Calgary hours before the NHL trading deadline last Tuesday.
- Flames center Stephane Yelle left the game in the third period with an unspecified injury. Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei missed his fifth game with a back sprain.
AP NEWS
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