The Anaheim Ducks met the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Scott Niedermayer (Jeff Gross / Getty Images)

Not only was it a rare appearance at Honda Center by the Penguins, there were some other interesting stories to this match up. It was the first time Penguins forward Chris Kunitz and Ducks defenseman, Ryan Whitney had played against their old teams since being traded for each other last season. Former Mighty Duck, Dan Blysma returned to Honda Center for the first time as coach of the Penguins. The top two picks in the 2005 NHL Draft met for the first time when Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Ducks winger Bobby Ryan took to the ice.

The first period started off quickly with the Duck’s Corey Perry firing in his 100^th career goal at 3:57, thanks to an assist by Scott Niedermayer. Following Perry’s goal the Ducks spent 8 minutes short handed due to four almost back to back penalties resulting from some questionable calls by the officials. The Ducks penalty kill was up to the task this time and the Ducks were able to hold off the powerful Pittsburgh offense to keep a 1-0 lead going to the 2^nd period.

Pittsburgh got out to a lead in the second period with goals from Mike Rupp and Kris Letang. Until Corey Perry scored his second goal of the game with assists by Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan at 16:01. Perry’s goal evened the score at 2-2 headed into the third period.

Ducks lost the lead when Pittsburgh’s Alex Goligoski scored at 7:55, but the Ducks didn’t wait long to respond. Saku Koivu evened it up again for the Ducks 19 second later, but the scoring wasn’t stopping yet. Pascal Dupuis scored the go ahead goal for the Penguins 59 seconds later making 3-4. The Penguins hung on to this lead for the victory. Even though the Ducks had some very good chances to tie the game late, it wasn’t meant to be.

In my opinion, this was by far the best game the Ducks have played this season. The Ducks really seem to have improved their ability to work together as a team. Corey Perry again showed why he needs to be on the Canadian Olympic Team and the Ducks penalty killing units were phenomenal. The improved penalty kill is good, but they need to improve on their power play. Actually shooting on goal would be a good place to start. The Ducks may not have won this game, but compared to the start of the season it was a improvement.