Penguins Simply Are Too Tough : Ducks: Even with Lemieux off of the ice, Pittsburgh is able to hold on for a 5-4 victory.

It’s one thing to get ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, another to stay there.

The Mighty Ducks experienced that for the first time Sunday, as the Penguins came from a goal behind three times, and entered the third period tied with the Ducks before leaving Anaheim Arena with a 5-4 victory before 17,083.

Comebacks are something the Penguins have done before. Mario Lemieux, who came back after treatment for Hodgkin’s disease last season and had back surgery before this season, attempted to play back-to-back games for the first time this season, but left midway through the second period after his back stiffened.

“There’s no secret those guys have a lot of talented players,” Duck goaltender Guy Hebert said. “They have a lot of great individual effort on the ice. They’re such a quality team that if you give them an inch, they’ll take you.”

The Penguins found the opening they needed in the third period. Kevin Stevens had scored the go-ahead goal, his second of the game, at 3:55. Then Jaromir Jagr scored what proved to be the winning goal at 15:07 after wresting the puck away from Peter Douris for a 5-3 lead.

Patrik Carnback scored an unassisted goal for the Ducks 21 seconds later and Anatoli Semenov put the puck on net from the bottom of the right circle in the final minute, but to no avail.

“They always seemed to be able to come back, and answer our goal with their own,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “We couldn’t get any breathing room.”

Said right wing Todd Ewen: “Anybody watching the game, I don’t think expected to see a game like that. Especially after we were behind 5-0 in the first eight minutes (against New Jersey on Friday). They probably expected Pittsburgh to come in and give us a pretty good thrashing.”

This time, it was the Ducks who struck first, on defenseman Sean Hill’s slap shot from the top of the right circle at 11:27 of the first. But the lead lasted only 21 seconds before Ron Francis tied the score, 1-1.

Less than a minute later, the Ducks led again, this time after Terry Yake carried the puck in, held on to outwait goaltender Ken Wregget, then flipped a backhand into the net for a 2-1 lead at 12:43.

It was Yake’s fifth goal of the season, but his first since scoring a hat trick against the New York Rangers on Oct. 19.

The Penguins tied the score before the end of the period, though, on a power-play goal when Kevin Stevens found an opening between the left post and Hebert’s stick after the Ducks were penalized for having too many men on the ice.

The second period went much the same way, with the Ducks taking another one-goal lead on a power-play goal at 5:28 by Anatoli Semenov--his fifth goal and team-leading 14th point--only to see it evaporate.

Once more, though, the Penguins answered. This time it was Pittsburgh defenseman Mike Ramsey, who scored his first goal of the season. Ramsey scored only three goals last season.

“Today I’d honestly say was one of our best performances,” Ewen said. “But you know a team like Pittsburgh is explosive.”

Duck Notes

Captain Troy Loney returned to play against his former Pittsburgh teammates after sitting out four games because of with a bruised right knee. . . . Left wing Tim Sweeney was scratched because of flu. . . . The Ducks will play Dallas in Phoenix Tuesday at the America West Arena in the first of two neutral-site games this season. They also will play Chicago in Phoenix on March 8. . . . The Duck mascot was officially named “Wild Wing” during the first intermission, and the selection was met with scattered boos. The runners-up: James Pond and Duck Tracy.