Lockout Put New Spin on Playoffs

A year ago, Mighty Duck and Calgary Flame players were concerned about anything but the Stanley Cup playoffs, as the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season lurched into its eighth month.

“I think I was playing golf,” Calgary’s Jarome Iginla said.

Said Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei: “I was waiting for my daughter [Alexis] to be born in June. That was pretty exciting.”

The Ducks’ Sean O’Donnell, had some hockey on his mind.

“I was sitting around waiting for the players and owners to get together and settle that thing,” O’Donnell said. “I keep that in mind now. Every time I started to complain about playing three games in four nights or the amount of flying we have to do, I remember last year and keep my mouth shut.”

Iginla said that the lockout had made him, and other players, cherish the moment at hand.

“That was another year off the calendar, you were another year older,” Iginla said. “You missed the competition, playing in front of 20,000 people.”

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The questions about the Ducks’ goaltending have become an increasingly touchy topic for Coach Randy Carlyle, who reacted testily for a second consecutive day to simple inquiries.

Asked whether the decision about who would start -- Jean-Sebastien Giguere or Ilya Bryzgalov -- during a news conference Monday morning, Carlyle, in a raised voice, bemoaned, “Here we go again.”

When asked again about whether the decision was difficult, he replied bluntly, “No.”

Carlyle has sparred with reporters throughout the series about the team’s goaltending, but questions persisted, particularly after he yanked Giguere during the second period in Game 5 Saturday. Carlyle chafed at similar inquiries during a news conference Sunday.

Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter said his team hasn’t concerned itself with the issue -- “They’re pretty much the same type of goalie,” he said -- and was also asked if he has had difficult goaltending decisions.

“Every year,” Sutter said. “What’s the old saying, you dance with the one who brung ya? That’s what you do.”