It gave new meaning to the term "scary good."

What he lacked in artistry Roman Turek made up for in effectiveness, the much-maligned Flames goaltender stopping 19 of 20 first period shots and 36 of 37 overall in leading the Calgary Flames to a lopsided 5-1 dusting of the Ducks in Anaheim.

Turek won for the first time since returning from a lengthy injury string, aided by fellow infirmary returnees Craig Conroy with four assists and Chuck Kobasew with two assists.

The offensive outburst by the Flames was all the more impressive considering captain Jarome Iginla, with a badly bruised ankle, failed to start the game, spinning through the warm-up before declaring himself unfit.

Not that Calgary needed him the way they were filling the net behind Ducks Jean Sebastien Giguere, the Flames spotting the Ducks a 1-0 first period lead on a Sergei Federov goal before exploding for three of their own in the second and two more in the third.

Maybe the Flames were trying to work the rust out of Turek's pads but their complete abandonment of any semblance of credible defensive hockey in the first period opened the floodgates for the Ducks, blowing through Flames defenders and seemingly swarming the Calgary net at will.

Turek won't be putting the tape of this one in his trophy case, his swimming, flopping performance exceeded only by the rebounds he surrendered to keep rallies alive but, to his credit, as the game wore on, the sharper he became.

"The five minute power play they had, to only come out of there one down, was great for us,." said Conroy on FAN960 after the game.

With the game tied 1-1 after a Toni Lydman power play goal in the second period, Turek was faced with Jason Krog racing in on him alone but turned aside what might have been a demoralizing, back-breaking Ducks marker.

From there, it was all Flames, Martin Gelinas jamming a puck through Giguere's pads in a goalmouth scramble and Oleg Saprykin finally scoring on his 100th attempt from the corner, his improbable, desperate attempt ricocheting off two Duck defenders and finally into the Anaheim net.

"I thought Saprykin's goal was huge," said Conroy. "That gave us a little bit of a cushion. I thought that really broke the back for them."

In the third period, Josh Green one-timed a Conroy pass through Giguere's legs while Chris Clark scored for the third time in five games, jamming a rebound under the pads of the Anaheim netminder.

For Conroy, the game was a tour de force performance, figuring in four of Calgary's five goals.

Although less than sterling in the first period, along with the rest of his teammates, Conroy stepping up was vastly important in the absence of both Iginla but more particularly the injured Stephane Yelle whom coach Darryl Sutter had come to rely on as perhaps his most important pivot.

Conroy was 68% in the faceoff circle and logged 18:29 in ice time, admitting after the game he had a furnace face as his conditioning continues to round into form.

"I've never had four assists in the NHL," he said after the game on FAN960. "It was a special night for me."

Coach Sutter also had to be pleased with the return of Kobasew, dashing and creating offence throughout the evening, his injury hiatus apparently doing the youngster some good given he looked like a completely beaten player before separating his shoulder last month.

The victory leaves the Flames 23-15-4-3 on the season, good for 53 points and seventh spot in the NHL's Western Conference.

Calgary remains one point behind Nashville after the Predators won earlier in the evening, although the Flames have two games in hand.

Pending results later in the evening, Flames are four points up on Los Angeles and five up on ninth place Dallas.

Calgary was two for four on the powerplay while Anaheim was zero for four.

Calgary directed 27 shots at Giguere who continues to be a shadow of the dominating performer of last season.

Next up is an equally important game against the LA Kings Tuesday night.