Dupuis gets winner as Penguins hold off Ducks for record 7th straight road win

By GREG BEACHAM , Associated Press

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 11:39 PM

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Pascal Dupuis scored the go-ahead goal with 10:47 to play, and the Pittsburgh Penguins tied an NHL record with their seventh straight road victory to open the season, 4-3 over the last-place Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

Michael Rupp, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski also scored for the Penguins, who won in California for just the second time since January 1999 with two goals in the third period.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the Penguins, who matched the seven season-opening road victories of the 1940 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1985 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2005 Detroit Red Wings. New Jersey also is 7-0 on the road so far this season.

Corey Perry scored two goals for the Ducks, who have lost six of seven. The Ducks' slow start hasn't affected the talented young forward, who scored his 100th career goal while extending his six-game scoring streak and a career-best four-game goal streak.

Pittsburgh was winless in 14 of its last 15 games in California. The Penguins visit Los Angeles on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday.

Jonas Hiller stopped 23 shots and Saku Koivu scored his first goal since Oct. 6 for Anaheim, but Pittsburgh opened its four-game West Coast road trip by causing constant traffic in front of the Ducks' net.

Perhaps that's because the Ducks also played without defenseman James Wisniewski, who sat out the first game of a two-game suspension for a high hit on Phoenix captain Shane Doan last weekend. Wisniewski has averaged nearly 25 1/2 minutes per game for Anaheim this season.

Letang's first goal of the season put the Penguins ahead 2-1 during a delayed penalty on the Ducks, but Perry tied it six minutes later in the second period when two defenders couldn't stop him from slamming a rebound underneath Fleury.

Goligoski's fourth goal in five games evolved after a prolonged sequence in which the Ducks twice missed easy opportunities to clear the puck from their zone. The Pittsburgh defenseman banged home a long shot for his sixth goal of the season midway through the third period — but Koivu answered 19 seconds later while sliding out from behind Fleury's net.

Just 59 seconds after that, Dupuis scored on another long shot through traffic, giving him goals in two straight games after getting just one in the Penguins' first 13 games.

Anaheim came agonizingly close to tying it on several occasions during a frantic three-minute stretch without a whistle in the closing moments, but Sidney Crosby dived into the crease to block one shot, and several others barely missed Fleury's net.

NOTES: The Honda Center crowd gave a warm ovation to Chris Kunitz, a member of the Ducks' Stanley Cup-winning team in 2007. Kunitz was traded to Pittsburgh in February for defenseman Ryan Whitney. ... Anaheim RW Bobby Ryan played in his 100th NHL game.

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