Anaheim Ducks’ Chris Stewart (second from right) celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins with his team-mates at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Sunday. (AFP)

By Jenn Menendez/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)


The Penguins’ California trip that started out so hot cooled considerably Sunday night with a second consecutive loss.
The Penguins lost, 2-1, to the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center, despite winning a coach’s challenge that overturned a first-period goal by the Ducks.
Evgeni Malkin drew a slashing penalty with 1:20 left in the game and the Penguins pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to attack 6-on-4, but could not convert.
It was emblematic of their night.
The Penguins dropped to 14-10-2, and 1-2 on their Western swing, which ends Wednesday night in Denver.
“I think we had, on the night, three or four posts,” said coach Mike Johnston. “It was tough both ways to get scoring chances. You could see it was that type of game from the beginning with the low shots, the low scoring chances. ... We just have to capitalize on the chances we get in games like that. I thought they capitalized, we didn’t.”
The Ducks got second-period goals from Corey Perry and Chris Stewart, and 23 saves by goalie John Gibson, a Whitehall native.
Beau Bennett hit the crossbar in a 2-on-1 chance with Sidney Crosby in the second period. Ian Cole came close to scoring his first of the season but hit the post, and Malkin’s line challenged Gibson with a sequence of three back-to-back-to-back shots.
“I mean, we had some decent ones. [Malkin’s] line, a couple guys had that sequence. Beau hit the post on 2-on-1,” said Crosby. “Games are going to be tight sometimes. Score was evidence of that [Sunday night]. Got to find a way to get ourselves back into it and get it tied up.”
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Olli Maatta at 3:02 of the first period.
Chris Kunitz carried the puck into the zone and found Crosby, who left the puck for Maatta at the top of the slot. After a quick deke, Maatta fired a wrister around traffic to give the Penguins the early lead.
The Ducks’ Rickard Rakell appeared to even things up with a power-play goal at 7:30, but the Penguins challenged the possession.
The puck had apparently left the Penguins zone 28 second earlier on a missed offside call, a play Penguins center Matt Cullen was involved in at the blue line.
“I thought it was out,” said Cullen. “The puck kind of deflected off my stick and changed angle. I was right on top of the blue line and had a pretty good look at it. It was very close, but was out in my mind.”
Perry tied it with a score just 36 seconds into the second period and Anaheim’s fourth line scored the go-ahead goal when Stewart finished a pass from Nate Thompson that made it 2-1 at 15:49.
Johnston said he was satisfied with the effort, but needs his team to finish.
“I thought the effort was fine, but we have to execute still,” said Johnston. “The execution there when you get a chance, when you have an open opportunity -- because you don’t get many of them -- you’ve got to execute on those plays.”
The Penguins again played without top defenseman Kris Letang, out a second consecutive game with a lingering injury.
Johnston kept Bennett on the top line with Crosby and Kunitz after moving him there to end Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Johnston also shifted his defense slightly, pairing Maatta with David Warsofsky and Rob Scuderi with Cole.
The Penguins had just two power plays, and both came in the final period. Brian Dumoulin drew a hooking penalty at 2:10 of the third period and Malkin drew the late slashing penalty.
“I think both teams were playing good neutral-zone defense and neither team was particularly crisp trying to go through the neutral zone and it created a bit of a ping-pong match,” said defenseman Ben Lovejoy. “We had some chances and we weren’t able to solve John Gibson more than once.”
It was the first set of back-to-back starts this season for Fleury, who finished with 23 saves.