The Ducks, who have the NHL's best record, were eager Friday to see how they matched up against the East-leading Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins seemed less concerned about measuring themselves against anybody than about rebounding from an ugly loss on Thursday at San Jose.
Each team had some reasons to be happy Friday, though the Ducks fell short in the shootout for the second straight game and lost an entertaining contest, 3-2, in a six-round tiebreaker.
"It is too bad it ends that way," said Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy, "but nobody left early."
SUMMARY: Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Ducks 2 (SO)
Sidney Crosby — who was stopped by Jonas Hiller on a breakaway in overtime — scored for Pittsburgh in the shootout, as did former Duck Chris Kunitz and Brandon Sutter. Corey Perry, who scored both Ducks goals, also succeeded in the shootout, as did Teemu Selanne. The game was decided when Sutter scored on Hiller and Ryan Getzlaf shot high above Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Ducks had lost to Montreal in a shootout Wednesday.
"I thought we played pretty well. Obviously, there were a couple of opportunities we had that might have been able to put the game away," said Ducks wing Kyle Palmieri. "Hillsy played a great game. When he was tested he came up big for us.
"Overall I think it was a good test for us, but to fall in the shootout again was a little disappointing."
Hiller faced only 17 shots over 65 minutes but confronting Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company is no picnic. It was Malkin's power-play goal at 8:57 of the third period, scored while Palmieri was serving an iffy tripping penalty, that brought the Penguins even after they had been dramatically outshot.
"I wish our power play would be clicking a little better. I thought we had plenty of opportunities there," Hiller said, and that's nothing new. The Ducks' power play has been blanked in seven of the last nine games, including three failures Friday.
"And to lose in a shootout is always tough," Hiller added, "but at the same time we won a point against a really good hockey team and I felt we played a pretty good game."
Not quite good enough to win, though.
The Ducks got off to a good start, with Perry and Getzlaf teaming up to produce Perry's 33rd goal this season, but the lead didn't last long.
On the Ducks' first goal, Perry slid the puck back to Getzlaf on the left side and then headed for the net. Getzlaf held the puck before taking a shot that Fleury stopped, but Perry nudged the rebound in at 3:54. Saku Koivu got the second assist.
The Penguins didn't get their first shot until 7:47 but they made it count. Jussi Jokinen took a shot that appeared to be partly blocked, as it popped up in the air. The puck went to Deryk Engelland, whose long shot skidded between Hiller's leg pads to tie the score.
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead early in the third period when Perry won the puck in the corner and touched it over to Palmieri, who got it to Getzlaf. The Ducks' captain passed the puck to Perry, who lifted it from his position near the right post at 1:10.
But Pittsburgh's power play, the league's most potent entering the game, clicked at 8:57. Malkin used Kunitz as a screen for a wrist shot that eluded Hiller and set off cheers from the many Penguins fans at Honda Center. James Neal and Crosby got the assists.
Hiller kept the game going with his overtime stop on Crosby, but the Penguins prevailed in the shootout skills contest.
The Ducks outshot Pittsburgh, 31-17, over 65 minutes.
"That's a very good team over there. I thought that both teams played really good hockey," Lovejoy said. "They wanted to get into a transition game. We wanted to play a physical game down low and it kind of went in waves where they carried the play and we carried the play."
They just couldn't carry it all the way to a victory.
helene.elliott@latimes.com
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