Ducks Unable to Hold Back the Penguins

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

The Mighty Ducks experienced just that 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 in front of 17,083.

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

“I don’t think he was himself,” Duck center Bob Corkum said. “Obviously he wasn’t the Mario Lemieux everybody in the league is used to.”

The rest of the Penguins’ powerhouse team managed without him.

“There’s no secret those guys have a lot of talented players,” goaltender Guy Hebert said. “They had a lot of great individual efforts 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 scored the go-ahead goal, his second of the game, at 3:55 of the third after getting the puck from Larry Murphy in the neutral zone. Then Jaromir Jagr scored the winning goal at 15:07 after wresting the puck from Peter Douris out front for a 5-3 lead.

“Pucks were played in the air, and we mishandled the puck with a glove and they ended up going in and scoring a couple of goals,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “You know, they’ve got a little more talent than we do, and when they get a lucky break, they’re able to capitalize on it.”

Patrik Carnback scored an unassisted goal for the Ducks 21 seconds after Jagr’s goal but the quest for a tie or victory against one of the NHL’s top teams ended there. Anatoli Semenov shot 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,” Wilson said. “We couldn’t get any breathing room.”

The Ducks played the game the way they wanted to, with aggressive forechecking and defense, but it seemed a stretch to think they would win.

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

This time, the Ducks struck first, on defenseman Sean Hill’s slap shot from the top of the right circle at 11:27 of the first period.

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 Oct. 19 against the New York Rangers.

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

“We had good momentum going, but the thing about a great team is they can change the momentum at any time with one great individual play,” Hebert said.

The second period went much the same way, with the Ducks taking a 3-2 lead on a power-play goal at 5:28 by Semenov--his fifth-goal and team-leading 14th point--only to see it evaporate. This time the scorer was Pittsburgh defenseman Mike Ramsey, who scored his first goal of the season.

The Ducks lost, but they seemed invigorated.

“The effort we had tonight was phenomenal,” Ewen said. “No loss is encouraging, but this is something to build on.”

Duck Notes

Captain Troy Loney returned to play against his former Pittsburgh teammates after missing four games with a bruised right knee. . . . Left wing Tim Sweeney was scratched with the flu. . . . The Ducks play Dallas in Phoenix Tuesday at the America West Arena in the first of two neutral-site games this season. They also play Chicago in Phoenix on March 8. . . . The popular but heretofore nameless Duck mascot was officially named “Wild Wing,” during the first intermission, and the selection was met with scattered boos. Gwen Thums of Diamond Bar won the use of a luxury suite for a game for her entry. The runners-up: James Pond and Duck Tracy.