Ducks get to laugh a little

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The Ducks played two-on-two hockey with the wrong ends of their sticks for part of practice Tuesday, a bit of earnest silliness a day after a shootout victory over Calgary for their second win in three games.

‘You can’t always be doom and gloom when you come to work,’ Coach Randy Carlyle said. ‘When you don’t have the success that you feel you’re capable of, then you’re always trying to push for more. You’re criticizing and analyzing, and all that stuff can be draining on you.

‘When you have some success, you’ve got to lighten it up and feel good about yourself.’

Teemu Selanne added to the lighthearted air when he talked about the seemingly unlikely pairing of him and Saku Koivu with hulking 6-foot-5 bruiser Evgeny Artyukhin -- a combination it turns out Selanne requested.

‘I have never seen that fast guy in my life. He’s 260 pounds and he’s machine, you know,’ Selanne said. ‘I guess there’s a lot of things he has to learn, but he has all the tools.

‘I call him Mr. Incredible. He doesn’t even know how fast and strong he is. He’s one of those guys that touch something and he breaks it.... I try to teach him little things because he can be really, really good.’

But the biggest reason for the Ducks’ optimism might be the suddenly sharp play of goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who said goalie consultant Pete Peeters encouraged him to be more aggressive in coming out of the net to challenge opponents.

‘Sometimes you forget when you’re in a slump, and you need to be reminded,’ said Giguere, who is expected to get a second consecutive start Wednesday against Carolina after the win.

-- Robyn Norwood