Portland connection leads Ducks

Dustin Penner scored his first two NHL goals and Chris Kunitz and Zenon Konopka added single tallies as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim flew to a 6-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes in NHL action on Wednesday.

All three players were recalled by Anaheim from the AHL’s Portland Pirates this season.

Penner scored his first career NHL goal at 17:07 of the second period when he streaked down the right wing and fired a wrist shot to beat former AHL All-Star David LeNeveu.

“I was on the power play and had a lot of open ice," said Penner. "I was just taking my time getting up there, seeing if I could get some guys coming with me to make it a 3-on-1. Once I got close enough, I thought I might as well shoot.”

Penner scored his second of the game on the power play at 10:46 to give the Ducks a 5-1 lead.

“Once you get one," Penner said, "the game gets easier after that."

Penner is currently the Pirates’ leading scorer with 20 points (11g, 9a) in 16 AHL games this season. Konopka is second on the team with 17 points (7g, 10a) in 13 games, while Kunitz recorded four assists in five games with Portland.

 

Also on Wednesday, Tuomas Pihlman recorded his first NHL goal for New Jersey, Ben Eager notched an assist in his NHL debut for Philadelphia and Jeff Tambellini made his NHL debut for Los Angeles.