For the second time this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to a big lead on the Anaheim Ducks. Just like during the first game of the season, Anaheim showed why they are one of the top teams in the NHL by coming back to tighten the score, but the Penguins were again able to hold off the Ducks’ charge and escaped Anaheim with a 5-2 victory.
After a scoreless first period, Blake Comeau started the scoring for the Penguins when he tallied his 15th goal of the season at 9:51 of the second period. Derrick Pouliot and Evgeni Malkin assisted on the Comeau’s goal.
Patric Hornqvist then scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season later in the second period. Hornqvist has scored six goals and eight points in his past six games. Ian Cole earned the primary assist on Hornqvist’s second goal to get his first point with the Penguins.
Evgeni Malkin finished the Penguins run with a wrist shot that deflected off the shoulder of Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen and just crossed the goal line at 2:03 of the third period. Malkin’s two points have drawn him into a tie for the NHL’s leading scorer with 67 points.
The Ducks charged late in the third period, with Thomas Fleischmann scoring at 9:03 of the final frame and Corey Perry beat Penguins goaltender Thomas Greiss at 13:08 of the third, but with Andersen pulled for an extra attacker late in the game, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Greiss made 27 saves to beat the Ducks for the first time in his career. Andersen, making his first appearance against the Penguins, stopped 16 of 20 Pens shots and was tagged with the loss.
Defensemen Ben Lovejoy and Simon Despres, traded for each other on Monday, had vastly different performances against their former squads. For the Penguins, Lovejoy was a plus-1 with a shot, three hits and a block in 16:44 while Despres was minus-2 with two shots and six hits in 16:32 of ice time against his former mates.
The Penguins will travel across town to face the Los Angeles Kings tomorrow night for the third game of their four-game West Coast road trip.
Photo credit: NHL
