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Pronger scores twice; Ducks win sixth straight on road

Dec 13, 2006 - 3:13 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Chris Pronger's third-period brilliance put the Anaheim Ducks into uncharted territory.

Pronger scored twice and fellow defenseman Scott Niedermayer collected two assists as the Ducks set a franchise record with their sixth straight road win, a 5-4 victory over the Florida Panthers.

A former Hart and Norris Trophy winner, Pronger sparked a comeback after Anaheim failed to hold a two-goal lead. The Ducks broke their previous mark for consecutive road wins set from November 26-December 26, 1999, and are 11-1-2 away from home.

"They're not always pretty, but it's about finding a way to win and finding it within ourselves to continue to battle and continue to push forward," Pronger said. "They played very well and put us on our heels a little bit once we got up two goals."

"It was a gritty effort by both teams," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "The one thing this team has shown is the resiliency when things don't go well that we're able to reach back and find a way to get things back together."

Pronger snapped a 4-4 tie with nine minutes remaining off a faceoff. He fired a snap shot from the left point that beat goaltender Alex Auld inside the left goalpost for his sixth tally and first multi-goal game of the season.

After Pronger gave Anaheim a 4-2 lead with a power-play goal at 3:34 of the third session, Florida charged back to tie the contest.

"The first (goal) kind of hit their forward's stick and skipped up a bit, and the second one, I was just shooting blocker," Pronger said. "It just happened to go in off the post."

Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester fired a slap shot from inside the blue line that found the top-right corner of the net 82 seconds later to beat netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere for his fifth goal of the campaign.

"We knew tonight we were playing a good team," Bouwmeester said. "We got some good effort and they got some bounces, but we had some chances too and couldn't put them in. They found a way to get it done and good teams often do that. They work hard and worked for what they got."

Ruslan Salei tied the game at 6:35 of the third by taking captain Olli Jokinen's setup feed from behind the net and lifting the puck into the top-right corner of the net for his fifth tally.

The Panthers opened the scoring at 2:25 of the first period when Drew Larman knocked in a rebound of David Booth's wrister from the right faceoff circle.

Corey Perry tied the game for the Ducks nearly seven minutes later when he split a pair of defenders before sliding the puck between Auld's pads for his seventh goal of the campaign.

Ryan Getzlaf gave Anaheim a 2-1 advantage at 2:59 of the middle session with his 14th tally, a one-timer of Ryan Shannon's centering feed inside Auld's right pad.

However, Nathan Horton tied the game, 2-2, with his ninth goal for Florida, when he beat Giguere from the slot while falling down.

"I tried to get a better shot," Horton said. "I took it to the middle and I fell and got lucky.

"I don't think they played their best and we didn't play our best. We got lazy at times. They got a couple lucky bounces. It seemed like all their goals went in from the point."

Defenseman Francois Beauchemin scored his fourth tally and Giguere made 27 saves for his 20th victory of the season for Anaheim, which leads the league with 24 wins and 54 points.

"We got timely goals tonight," Niedermayer said. "They played well. They were aggressive. They made it pretty tough for us with their forecheck and getting the puck deep. I think we probably were lucky getting out (with a win)."

Auld stopped 31 shots and fell to 6-10-4 for the Panthers, who have dropped nine of their last 11.

"We came out energized and had some great chances but we kept coming up on the short end," Florida center Chris Gratton said. "It was a good effort and guys battled real hard tonight. We have to find a way to chip away and get a couple victories in a row."