DUCKS ARE PENALIZED FOR LACK OF DISCIPLINE PLAY.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - These are the first playoffs since the NHL lockout, and therefore the first test of whether the new rules, instituted last summer to boost scoring, would make an impact in the postseason.

Some pundits believed that once the regular season ended, things would return to normal and referees would pocket their whistles and the era of clutch-and-grab hockey would return for the playoffs.

Not so, at least not for the Mighty Ducks and the Calgary Flames.

In Tuesday's 5-2 Calgary victory, which gave the Flames a two-games- to-one lead in the best-of-seven first-round series, specialty teams play continued to be the major factor in both teams' fate.

``We got into penalty trouble and their power play was better than our penalty kill,'' Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. ``That was the story of the game.''

Calgary scored three power-play goals, and a fourth goal came exactly at the two-minute mark of yet another Duck penalty. The Ducks' lack of discipline, and some questionable play in the latter part of the game by Giguere, cost the Ducks and put them in a hole heading into Game 4.

The Ducks took 10 penalties, actually two fewer than the Flames, but at inopportune times.

``We just can't take that many penalties, and I was guilty of one,'' center Todd Marchant said. ``We're not going to be successful until we get back to that simple, solid style of defense that we play.''

Taking bad penalties wasn't the Ducks' only problem.

The Ducks went scoreless on 12 power-play chances in the first two games, leading to the question of whether it would be possible to have success against the Flames without power-play success.

``Anything's possible,'' Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer said with a shrug, and the implication was clear. The Ducks had to capitalize with the man advantage, and on Tuesday night, they did.

Turns out, the Ducks came through with two power-play goals, but it didn't matter much.

That's because the Ducks' propensity to take penalties, a worrisome but not terminal problem in the first two games, turned into a huge issue in Game 3 because the Flames became more opportunistic.

Asked what particularly ailed his penalty-kill unit Tuesday, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said, ``It's a long list. I'm not going to go down that list for you right now.''

Only six previous times this season, in 82 regular-season games and two playoff games, had the defensive-minded Flames scored at least five goals in a game, but the Ducks proved to be porous.

Neither team showed much discipline. The Ducks actually had more power plays (nine) than the Flames (seven) but the Flames' power play was more effective because they moved the puck better and created more traffic around the net, two things the Flames' penalty killers prevented the Ducks from doing.

``We did a decent job on the power play,'' Niedermayer said, ``but when the game is so dependent on special teams, you have to be good at both. We need to be more disciplined.

``We knew there would be some (penalty) calls but we have to be better in those situations.''

Penalties hurt the Ducks throughout the game. Calgary took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 because of power-play goals, and perhaps the game's biggest goal, scored by Darren McCarty 4:59 into the third period, came just as Jeff Friesen was about to step out of the penalty box.

``It's very important to stay disciplined and work as a group of five when you kill penalties,'' Giguere said. ``We have to work as a team or it's not going to work.''

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Defenseman Scott Niedermayer said the Ducks have to do a better job in power-play situations.

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