Around the rink

With their 3-2 victory against Pittsburgh on Monday, the Ducks completed their first 15 games by earning at least one point in each contest. That tied the mark set by the 1984-85 Oilers for most games without a loss at the start a season. If the Ducks can get through this week without going down in defeat, they might keep their streak going for a while. After road games in Vancouver and Calgary on Thursday and Friday, Anaheim will play will play seven of its next eight at home. The '84-85 Oilers went on to win the second of their four Stanley Cups in a five-year span.

How bad are things going for the Senators ? Ottawa dropped to 5-7-1 after a deflating 4-3 loss in Washington on Monday night. The Senators bolted to a 3-0 lead after just 12 minutes, but lost in overtime on Chris Clark 's goal. Ottawa plays its next three games on the road, and trade rumors involving Daniel Alfredsson have already surfaced on a team that is often among the league leaders during the regular season and a pushover in the playoffs. After 13 games last season, the Senators were a dominant team with an 11-2 record.

Welcome back to life, Tony Amonte . The Flames forward scored twice in Calgary 's impressive 3-1 victory against the hot Stars on Tuesday night at the Saddledome . It was the first time that Amonte, who has amassed 409 goals in his career, had scored twice in a game since March 2003, when he was a member of the Flyers. Few players stood to gain more from the rules adopted after the lockout than the speedy, unphysical Amonte, but the 36-year-old, who scored just 14 goals last season, has lost a step and he often seems out of place on a team that plays with a pre-lockout defensive mindset. His contributions are significant, though. Since Amonte joined the Flames before the 2005-06 season, Calgary has lost only two games in which he has scored.

Revenge can be sweet -- or sour if you're the defending champs. With their 3-2 defeat by the Devils on Tuesday night, the Hurricanes are now 0-4-1, including two losses to New Jersey , against the teams they eliminated in last season's playoffs.

Until this week, Tampa Bay was the only team whose defensemen had not scored a goal. That changed on Monday night when Filip Kuba scored a pair against the Islanders. Tampa defensemen combined for 21 goals last season, although 15 of them came from Dan Boyle .

Lightning forward Eric Perrin has had a career week. On Sunday, his wife, Karen, gave birth to Alexandre, their second child, in Tampa . Roughly 24 hours later, Perrin scored his second career goal and recorded his first two-point game as the Lightning zapped the Islanders, 5-1. Perrin , who turned 31 on Nov. 1, now has four points in 19 career games.

Proving that retired hockey players are in for the long haul, 16-year veteran Adam Graves completed Sunday's New York Marathon in 4 hours, 27 minutes, 32 seconds. The day before, 15-year vet Pat LaFontaine completed an Ironman Triathlon in Panama City , Florida in 11 hours, 54 minutes, 5 seconds, well ahead of his goal time of 12:20. Through his efforts, LaFontaine raised over $56,000 for Companions in Courage, the organization that helps children afflicted with life-threatening illnesses. The race wasn't easy, as the temperature was only 42 degrees when the triathletes jumped into the unseasonably cold Gulf waters. Word is that former Rangers goaltender Mike Richter is eyeing a triathlon in Lake Placid sometime in the future.

With Paul Holmgren taking over as interim general manager after the Flyers parted ways with Bob Clarke , the team has contacted Colin Campbell , the NHL 's director of hockey operations to gauge his interest. For now, Campbell , who served as Rangers GM before joining the NHL office, is staying put.

After playing nine of their first 13 games at home, how are the Minnesota Wild handling their five-game road trip that began Tuesday night? With some fatherly advice. Sixteen of the players' dads are traveling with the team from San Jose (Nov. 7) through the contest in Nashville (Nov. 16). The fathers of Pavol Demitra , Marian Gaborik and Branko Radivojevic flew in from Slovakia for the trip, while Niklas Backstrom , Petteri Nummelin and Mikko Koivu welcomed their dads' arrival from Finland . In Tuesday night's game in San Jose , the proud pops sat in the same section and donned the team's red jerseys. The trip was conceived by GM Doug Risebrough and has the blessing of head coach Jacques Lemaire , who was 13 when he lost his father to polio.

Kings' right wing Tom Kostopoulos is a notorious prankster. His favorite entails taping a teammate's keys inside a pocket of the guy's jeans. Kostopoulos' three keys to a successful prank: deny you did it; deny you did it; deny you did it.