Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn each scored two goals and John Gibson made 31 saves as the host Anaheim Ducks snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Frank Vatrano also scored and Troy Terry and Jacob Trouba each added two assists for Anaheim, which improved to 8-0-2 when scoring three or more goals in a game. McTavish just missed scoring a hat trick when his one-armed empty-net try hit the post.
It was the 201st career win for Pittsburgh native Gibson, who snapped a personal five-game (0-4-1) losing streak with his first win since Jan. 5 against Tampa Bay.
Michael Bunting scored a goal and Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 29 saves for the Penguins.
Anaheim, shut out in three of its six previous games, jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 9:28 mark of the first period. McTavish put in a rebound of Robby Fabbri’s shot into an open net past a sprawling Nedeljkovi during a goal-mouth scramble.
The Ducks extended the lead to 2-0 with 59 seconds left in the period. Killorn deked defenseman P.O. Joseph near the blue line and then fired a wrist shot inside the far post.
Pittsburgh cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the second period on Bunting’s team-leading ninth power-play goal — a one-timer near the right post off a crossing pass from Bryan Rust.
Anaheim extended its lead to two goals early in the third period when Terry’s dump-in into the Penguins’ zone took a crazy carom off the corner glass straight to McTavish coming down the slot. McTavish scooped up the puck and then wrapped a shot around Nedeljkovic’s right pad.
Vatrano made it 4-1 at the 6:52 mark with a wrist shot inside the far post off a crossing pass from Ryan Strome.
The Penguins pulled Nedeljkovic for an extra attacker with 5:37 remaining, and Killorn sealed the win with a length-of-the-ice empty-netter with two minutes to go.
–Field Level Media
