Ducks have turned into kings of the road

The Ducks have started a long trip in great fashion.

Dustin Penner had two goals and the NHL-leading Ducks tied the franchise record with their fifth consecutive road win, a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Teemu Selanne and Chris Kunitz also scored for the Ducks, who are 10-1-2 on the road this season. They also won five in a row on the road from Nov. 26 to Dec. 26, 2000.

“We feel that our team can play in any building we want to go into because we’re a skating hockey club and we have some size,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We have to establish our fore-checking for periods of the game. Tonight we did that.”

The Ducks started a five-game road swing with a 6-1 win at Washington on Friday.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective,” Penner said. “You’re not going to play your best game every night, especially on back-to-back games when you’re traveling. You just have to find a way to win.”

Penner opened the scoring in the first period and made it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 10:58 of the second.

Selanne extended the lead to two when he redirected Andy McDonald’s pass at 12:48. Selanne also had an assist. He has 16 goals and 35 points in his last 21 games.

Brad Richards’ rebound goal with 9:50 remaining pulled Tampa Bay to within 4-3. The Lightning had a five-on-three power play for 1:45 midway through the third but had only two shots and failed to score.

“That was pretty long, but the guys did a tremendous job in front of me,” said Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who made 24 saves. “We won some faceoffs, we cleared the puck and gave them a hard time coming into the zone.”