Ducks Show They Aren’t Make-Believe : Hockey: With fourth consecutive victory on the road, they set standard for expansion franchises. Houlder scores two in 2-1 victory over Winnipeg.

As Coach Ron Wilson emerged from the dressing room, he struggled against a grin that was trying to break free--and lost.

“Break up the Mighty Ducks!” he said.

With a 2-1 victory over Winnipeg before 12,147 Wednesday night at Winnipeg Arena, his Ducks became the first of five recent NHL expansion teams to win four consecutive games on the road.

Vancouver fell. Then Edmonton. Then Calgary. And finally Winnipeg.

A 4-0 trip.

In six days, the Ducks doubled their season victory total to eight and closed to within two points of the Kings and San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.

“If anybody was to say, ‘The Mighty Ducks are going to win four in a row,’ people would probably have laughed their heads off,” said goaltender Ron Tugnutt, who made 29 saves, including a juggled second-effort glove save on Darrin Shannon in the final two minutes and a close-as-they-come save in the second period when he swatted a puck from the crease with his glove partially over the line.

Defenseman Bill Houlder scored both goals, the first tying the score at 16:30 of the second on shot from the point after Shaun Van Allen won a faceoff cleanly. Houlder scored the go-ahead goal at 1:10 of the third when a rebound came out to him in the slot and he slapped it home.

“We don’t have the most talent in the league, so we have to shoot the puck and follow our rebounds,” Houlder said. “We’re not going to be beating a guy one on one or going end to end.”

Just like that, the Ducks have acquired one of the most elusive qualities an expansion team can have: It’s confidence, and it makes them dangerous.

“It’s unbelievable,” Wilson said. “Everybody’s going out and doing the right things, and when they make a mistake and come to the bench, it’s like (Vancouver Coach) Pat Quinn said, once you start winning, the team starts running itself. There’s peer pressure on the bench to do the right things, When a player cheats, his teammates jump on him in a hurry.”

The Ducks have broken free of a close-but-no-cigar pattern during which they lost seven one-goal games. Wilson says the difference is goaltending and the confidence the team has in it, but the defensemen also have stopped botching games.

“Little mistakes, I guess we learned on them,” Houlder said.

They didn’t let up on Teemu Selanne, who had 76 goals last season but didn’t score on two shots against the Ducks.

“They played fantastic,” said Tugnutt, who was in goal for three of the four victories on the trip. “That’s good to see, with the inexperience we have, the composure we’re showing when the game’s on the line. But it’s still a long year.”

Winnipeg’s only goal came at 14:54 of the first on Thomas Steen’s rebound shot.

Winnipeg had a near-goal in the second, but the light never came on and after a video review it was ruled there was no goal.

The Ducks return home for an afternoon game against San Jose Friday.

“In our situation, it’s easy to get carried away with yourself,” Wilson said. “Like, well, we’re a good team all of a sudden. I’m not saying we’re not, but we have to keep it as simple as possible.”

Said Stu Grimson: “We’ve got a lot to be happy about. But we have to be real humble about it. We can’t take ourselves too seriously.”

Duck Notes

Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, on his way East with his family for Thanksgiving, made a stop in Manitoba to see the team. “I don’t think anybody expected a first-year team to win four in a row in Canada, of all places,” he said. . . . Florida, the other 1993 expansion team, won three road games in a row earlier this season. . . . Extra defenseman Myles O’Connor, on leave for personal reasons, did not rejoin the team in Calgary as Coach Ron Wilson expected.