Penguins 4, Ducks 3.
The Ducks played 60 minutes of hockey against the defending Stanley Cup champions -- and still lost.
Goals by Corey Perry, the 100th and 101st of his career, and Saku Koivu left the game tied at 3 with less than 12 minutes to play. But a long-range goal by Pascal Dupuis beat Jonas Hiller for the game-winner with 10:37 left on the clock.
The Ducks (4-7-2) came close to tying the game afterwards. Once, when Saku Koivu was robbed by the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury with 5:40 left, and again when Sidney Crosby sprawled out on the goal line (with Fleury out of position) to stop a Scott Niedermayer blast a minute later.
Pittsburgh, which was playing without injured stars Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar, won its seventh straight road game to start the season. The Ducks were cautiously optimistic about their effort, which matched their opponent's for the third straight game.
In addition to Perry's career milestone, the Ducks were able to extend some personal streaks:
• Perry extended his goal streak to a career-high four games, during which he's scored five. He also extended his point streak to a season-high six games (six goals, 10 points).
• Ryan Getzlaf extended his point streak to a season-high six games with an assist tonight (goal, nine points)
• With an assist, Teemu Selanne tied Jean Beliveau for 38th on the NHL's all-time points list (585 goals, 634 assists, 1219 points) and tied Neal Broten for 63rd in all-time NHL assists.
• Bobby Ryan appeared in his 100th career NHL game tonight, earning an assist. He has collected six points and three goals in the last four games.
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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