Newcomers Brett Festerling, Bobby Ryan go to work for Ducks

Ducks defenseman Brett Festerling went straight from the cornfields of Iowa into the starting lineup alongside Scott Niedermayer in a 2-0 victory over the Kings on Sunday.

Forward Bobby Ryan, a salary-cap casualty in training camp, was sent out with the team's first line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and had a up-close view of the Ducks' first goal.

These were emergency call-ups from minor league Des Moines after defenseman Francois Beauchemin was lost for the season with a knee injury. Neither Festerling nor Ryan were allowed to ease into their new surroundings.

"You don't want to put young players in a position where they can't survive," Coach Randy Carlyle said. But, he added, "everyone is going to have to contribute a little more."

That had Festerling logging penalty-killing time in his NHL debut, as he had done at Des Moines. He played 17 minutes 42 seconds in all, nearly half of which came in the third period.

"Being out there with a guy like Scott made it pretty easy on me," Festerling said. "Actually, it sounds silly, but I had more jitters during the morning skate, an optional with seven other guys. I felt pretty comfortable once the game started."

The Ducks will need him to maintain that comfort zone, while increasing the minutes Kent Huskins and Bret Hedican play.

"They showed me what they do on the penalty kill and I told them I played that a lot in Iowa," Festerling said.

Ryan was a bonus call-up, if there was any silver lining to Beauchemin's injury. With the Ducks hovering around the NHL's $56.7-million salary cap, he had to be sent to Des Moines. But with Beauchemin on the long-term injury list, the Ducks could afford to bring him up with Festerling . . . and stick him on the top line.

"Playing with Getzlaf and Perry, it's important that he does what we ask him to do," Carlyle said. "We know he can score. We'd like him to play that grind game."

Ryan went to the net with the Ducks on a rush in the second period. He was perched at the crease when Perry scooped and flicked it in the net to break a scoreless tie in the second period.

"I didn't know I was going to be on the first line until we went out for the pre-game skate," Ryan said. "I feel it's a good setup for me. I can do some damage."