Shtalenkov Helps Ducks Tie Penguins : Hockey: New goalie stiffens after giving up an early goal, and Ducks rally for a point, 2-2.

The Pittsburgh Penguins can make a goalie shake in his skates, even on a night when Mario Lemieux and Rick Tocchet aren’t playing.

There’s still Jaromir Jagr, the hulking wing with the long black hair who handles the puck with such supreme skill. There’s still Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy, and the two newest Penguins, former Kings Tomas Sandstrom and Shawn McEachern.

The Mighty Ducks sent their new backup goalie, Mikhail Shtalenkov, into the fray Thursday, and he helped them leave Civic Arena with a 2-2 tie and a hard-earned point.

“Before the game, I had a good warm-up,” Shtalenkov said. “I said to myself, ‘If you want to play in the NHL, you must try to play good. You have a chance now,’ ”

Less than two minutes into the game, he had already given up a power-play goal on a shot by Mullen. But Shtalenkov sharpened, and he stopped Pittsburgh’s attack the rest of the period, turning away McEachern on a breakaway, thwarting other Penguins with deft poke-checks, and snagging a hard shot by Jagr with his glove.

“We have a lot of faith in Mike (Shtalenkov),” Coach Ron Wilson said, even though Shtalenkov had played in only two previous NHL games, and in his last had to be pulled after giving up three goals on five shots in the first period of a Nov. 17 loss to Toronto. “It was good for Mike to be able to make the saves he made for himself. He played well in the first period and after that they hardly had a sniff. They only had four shots in the third period.”

Shtalenkov, 28, is new to the NHL, but he is not raw. He played for Dynamo Moscow for six years before the Ducks drafted him in the fifth round in June, and he has extensive international experience--enough that Wilson says he might be the best Russian goalie in the world right now.

Shtalenkov has been in the minors most of the season until Sunday morning, when his arrival served as Ron Tugnutt’s first omen that he had been traded to Montreal. Now Shtalenkov is Guy Hebert’s backup, and the success of the trade that brought center Stephan Lebeau to the Ducks also depends on how well the goaltending holds up.

“I was just a little bit nervous and that’s OK,” Shtalenkov said. “We’re playing against Pittsburgh and that’s a big game to me. . . . I’m just glad today I did good. But one game is not enough. Ducks want now to play in playoffs.”

McEachern’s second-period goal on a long-range slap shot--his second since returning to the Penguins in the trade that brought McSorley back to Los Angeles--made the score 2-0.

But the Duck defense, which had been on a bit of a vacation lately, turned physical again, and the Ducks came back to tie the score on Tim Sweeney’s power-play rebound at 4:50 of the second and Joe Sacco’s breakaway goal at 17:16 of the second.

Shtalenkov and Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso fended off the rest of the scoring attempts, with Barrasso stopping 17 shots over the final 25 minutes and Shtalenkov called on for only five.

“The only reason we got a point was because of Barrasso,” Pittsburgh Coach Ed Johnston said.

Duck Notes

The Ducks have 51 points, four behind San Jose for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. . . . Mario Lemieux, who resumed playing this month after a three-month layoff because of soreness in his back, had not played the past two games and took a cortisone shot Thursday morning. Teammate Rick Tocchet also was out with a sore back.