The Mighty Ducks are not exactly a force in the Western Conference but when you consider that the Penguins were down major parts of their team, last night’s 3-1 win against Anaheim was certainly a bright spot. The Penguins took to the ice without Sidney Crosby, Rob Scuderi, forward Max Talbot, Kris Letang and Pascal Dupuis. They are also still missing Fedotenko and Zigomanis as well as Gonchar and also lost Orpik during the game due to an injury.

Things looked bad early on as the makeshift Penguins struggled to find their groove against the Ducks managing a pathetic 5 total shots in the period against Jean-Sebastien Giguere. But the fifth one was all they needed to take a 1-0 lead with only 21 seconds remaining in the period. It was Matt Cooke (6) who wound out from behind the Ducks goal and fed a puck to the far post that banked in with time running out that put the Penguins up heading into the locker room.

Early in the second it was Cooke (7) again who scored just 0:23 seconds in. He found a rebound from Giguere’s pads and with the Ducks netminder badly out of position he slammed it home for a 2-0 lead. The Ducks would cut the lead in half on a second period goal by Getzlaf (17) but the Pens were defensively sound and allowed only 7 shots in the period while amassing 10 themselves; a number that is impressive considering their recent weak totals.

In the third period Pittsburgh got into penalty trouble but was able to hold off a hard charging Ducks team determined to win. At 15:05 of the final period Hal Gill (1) scored his first goal of the season to make the game 3-1. Gill shot the puck from the circle and it found the back of the net.

Fleury played well, facing only 22 shots in the game to earn the victory.

The win moved the Penguins back into a playoff spot (8th to be exact) and they have won two of their last three and could have easily won the Washington game with a little commitment to defense. I am still not ready to say that the team has come out of its recent long and painful funk but things are certainly looking up. The question will be can they play hard enough to win games while the injury bug continues to decimate their team.

The Penguins may indeed be getting a little tougher come Tuesday when the team host the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins. The Tribune-Review reports that Hal Gill is eying a chance to return to the lineup after missing several games and the Penguins sorely missing his physical presence:

With any luck — and the injury-plagued Penguins have experienced little of that this season — defenseman Hal Gill will play Tuesday against the Boston Bruins at Mellon Arena.

“I hope so,” Gill said Saturday prior to the Penguins home game against the Montreal Canadiens. “I don’t want to keep doing (hard) skates out there.”

Gill has missed 10 consecutive games since his left shoulder was injured Oct. 6 in a loss at Ottawa. He recently returned to practice and has participated in limited contact drills.

The return of Gill to the blue line would mean another defenseman would be getting sat to make room for his presence. My money would be on Mark Eaton being the odd man out. Goligoski has been strong as have Orpik and Scuderi for most of the month of December. Boucher has been reliable and Ryan Whitney has been hoping since his return a few games ago and helping to generate chances.