NHL Preview from The Sports Network
Monday, January 21st
(All times Eastern)
Anaheim Ducks (1-0-0) at Calgary Flames (0-1-0), 9 p.m.
(Sports Network) - Not a bad season debut for a 42-year-old winger.
Teemu Selanne looks to build off his four-point opening night on Monday as the
Anaheim Ducks visit the Calgary Flames.
Kicking off his 21st NHL season, Selanne scored twice and notched two assists,
recording three of his four points on the power play in a 7-3 rout of the
hosting Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. The Fin has now posted 665 career
goals, including 249 on the man advantage, in 1,342 career games.
At the age of 42 years and 200 days old, Selanne became the oldest player to
record four points in a game since Gordie Howe in 1971.
"I think it's great. He defies age on certain nights," Ducks coach Bruce
Boudreau said.
While the Ducks got production from an old face, a pair of newcomers also had
an impact. Offseason addition Daniel Winnik scored twice and first-year Duck
defenseman Sheldon Souray also had a goal.
Corey Perry and Kyle Palmieri scored and Jonas Hiller made 26 saves for the
Ducks, who open their home schedule on Friday versus the Canucks.
Anaheim played without defenseman Cam Fowler because of the flu, though he
could be back for this contest.
The Flames did not have the same success in their opening game of this
shortened season. They were bested 4-1 by the visiting San Jose Sharks on
Sunday.
Lee Stempniak had the game's first goal with 7:39 to play in the first and
Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves in defeat.
Calgary outshot San Jose 16-9 in the first period, but managed only four shots
in a second frame that saw the Sharks score three times.
"We had our chances and (Sharks goaltender Antti) Niemi played well,"
Stempniak said. "But you can't just let things snowball out of control. We hit
a post early on. Those are all things that I think contributed but for us, we
stopped skating and things sort of fell apart. To me that's the issue."
The Flames are opening the season by playing five of six at home.
Though the Flames and Ducks split four meetings last season, Calgary took both
meetings at home. Anaheim, though, has still won six of eight and 10 of the
last 14 encounters overall.
Selanne did not score in the four meetings in 2011-12, managing two assists.
He does own 38 goals and 81 points in 71 career meetings.
01/21 10:30:55 ET

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