Selanne broke a tie with his 656th career goal, tying him with Brendan Shanahan for 12th place in NHL history, and the Ducks rallied for the second night in a row to cool off the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 2-1 decision Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center.
The Ducks trailed 1-0 in the third period Tuesday in Minnesota before coming back for another 2-1 victory, the first time all season all season they came back to win while trailing after two periods. This time, Corey Perry, scoring the final minute of the third period, and the 41-year-old Selanne supplied all the offense they needed.
With the teams tied at 1, the Penguins -- 11-2-1 in their previous 14 games -- pressured in the Ducks' end for three-quarters of a minute only to have Anaheim mount on a 3-on-1 rush the other way. Selanne, who was close to being offside on the play, finished it off with a backhander for his 19th goal of the season.
Playing in his first game in Consol, Selanne scored in his 53rd NHL arena during a superlative career that began 20 years ago. He has scored in every arena except the Prudential Center in Newark, where he plays Friday night, and the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
The Ducks, seemingly in dire straits after a 6-13-4 start, are 14-2-3 in their last 19 and are 3-1 on an eight-game, two-week road trip. They won in Pittsburgh for the first time in five tries since Oct. 6, 2001 and closed to within six points of the Western Conference's final playoff spot.
And the Ducks' assignment was about as tough as it gets these days in the NHL. They knew they had to slow down the streaking Evgeni Malkin in his own building, and while playing a second difficult road game in as many nights. And the Penguins came in with an 8-1-3 record against the Western Conference
But the Ducks pulled it off, ending Malkin's streak of scoring in eighth consecutive home games as Jonas Hiller made 25 saves to improve to 12-2-3 in his last 17 starts. The NHL scoring leader came in with 69 points on the season and 17 goals in 17 games.
Pittsburgh had rallied in each of its six consecutive wins at home, four times from multiple-goal deficits, so maybe it wasn't the best sign for them when they took the early lead.
Jordan Staal, a force since returning last weekend from a 15-game layoff with a left knee injury, took Pascal Dupuis' pass along the boards in stride and skated in hard from the right circle to beat Hiller at 6:27 of the first.
Giving up the opening goal didn't rattle Hiller on Tuesday and it didn't get to him in this one, either, despite the Penguins' 11-2-1 record in their previous 14 games.
Outshot 13-8 by the fresher Penguins in the first period – Pittsburgh hadn't played since Sunday – the Ducks rediscovered their game legs in the second period and began dominating play. Marc-Andre Fleury needed to make a couple of excellent saves to keep the Penguins in the lead, but finally gave it up in the period's final minute.
Perry, last year's NHL MVP, skated past defenseman Zbynek Michalek to beat Fleury with a wrist shot from in close with 52 seconds left in a period in which the Ducks outshot the Penguins 13-7 and, just like that, it was tied.
Perry's goal was his fifth in three games – he had a hat trick Sunday in Columbus – and his team-high 28th, and the timing couldn't have been much better, either. The Penguins had been 18-0-2 when leading after two periods.
Fleury finished with 27 saves.
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