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Right wingers Corey Perry and Chris Stewart scored as the Ducks
rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday
night at the Honda Center.
Goalie John Gibson stopped 23 shots for his third victory in four
games as the Ducks (11-12-5) gave the Penguins (14-10-2) their
fourth loss in five contests.
"If we're not going to score a lot of goals, we have to take a lot
of pride in our defense," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We're
not 100 percent where we want to be yet, but we're on the right
track."
After losing nine of their first 10 games, with two losses coming in
overtime, the Ducks are 9-5-3 since Nov. 1.
"In the last couple of weeks, we're starting to turn the tide,"
Stewart said. "When the team's not producing or getting bounces,
we've got to be defense first. If we've got to win 1-0 or 2-1, so be
it."
Stewart broke a 1-1 tie at 15:49 of the second period. After left
winger Mike Santorelli backhanded a pass from the right corner to
center Nate Thompson, Stewart redirected Thompson's pass from the
right circle inside the right post for his fifth goal.
"'Santo' just made a good drop pass," Stewart said. "I saw some ice
and tried to get to the middle. I didn't think I was going to be
able to get a shot off, so I just tried to get a tip on it and got
it over (goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's) glove."
Anaheim then had to defuse Pittsburgh's six-on-four power play in
the final 1 minute, 20 seconds, when Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa
went to the penalty box for slashing and Penguins coach Mike
Johnston pulled goalie Fleury for an extra attacker. Defenseman Cam
Fowler and center Ryan Kesler blocked two of the Penguins' three
shots.
"We have to do a better job of putting pucks to the net and finding
rebounds," Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz said. "They're
obviously going to block shots and really clog that area around the
net. You need to pull them away from the net when you've got six
guys on the ice."
Immediately before Bieksa's penalty, center Evgeni Malkin had a
chance to tie the score. With the right side of the net wide open,
Malkin faked to his backhand, but in front of the crease, the puck
rolled off his stick.
"We had five or six great scoring chances that we didn't capitalize
on," Johnston said. "When you have an open opportunity, you have to
execute on those plays because you don't get many of them."
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The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 3:02 into the first period on
defenseman Olli Maatta's fourth goal. Center Sidney Crosby deflected
Kunitz's pass from the boards near the left circle to Maatta, who
fired a wrist shot from the top of the slot.
Johnston then successfully challenged the apparent tying goal nearly
4 1/2 minutes later. Anaheim left winger Rickard Rakell converted
the rebound of defenseman Sami Vatanen's shot on a power play at
7:30, but the Ducks were offside before the play, nullifying the
goal.
Perry responded 36 seconds into the second period by flicking a shot
off Fleury for his 10th goal.
The teams were skating four-on-four when Perry scored. Malkin and
Kesler received roughing penalties when the first period ended.
The Penguins had a chance to break the tie about six minutes later,
but defenseman Ian Cole's slap shot from the right point hit the
right post.
Fleury finished with 23 saves.
NOTES: Pittsburgh scratched D Adam Clendening, RW Daniel Sprong, and
D Kris Letang, who missed his second consecutive game with an
undisclosed injury. Letang needs one point to become the fifth
Penguins defenseman with 300 for his career. ... Five Penguins spent
part of their careers in Anaheim: C Nick Bonino, C Matt Cullen, LW
Chris Kunitz and D Ben Lovejoy. ... Penguins RW Beau Bennett was
born and grew up in Metropolitan Los Angeles. No Californian has
been selected higher in the NHL draft than Bennett, Pittsburgh's
first-round choice with the 20th overall pick in 2010. ... Anaheim
scratched D Korbinian Holzer, LW Patrick Maroon and G Anton
Khudobin. ... Ducks G John Gibson grew up in Pittsburgh and called
Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury his favorite player. ... The Ducks led
the NHL with an 87.5 percent success rate in penalty killing but
ranked last with 1.93 goals-per-game entering Sunday night's
contest.
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