Ducks dominate the Penguins to snap out of four-game skid

DUCKS

The Ducks’ Mason McTavish celebrates after scoring during the first period of Thursday night’s game against the Penguins at Honda Center. McTavish added a goal in the third period of Anaheim’s victory. Etienne Laurent / ap

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By Andrew Knoll

Correspondent

ANAHEIM — The fledgling Ducks soared above perhaps the most established core in the NHL, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning 5-1 at Honda Center on Thursday night.

The Ducks had lost four straight games and seven of eight entering the matchup, while the Penguins were coming off a 5-1 manhandling of the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.

Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn each burst out of their respective scoring funks with two-goal efforts, and Frank Vatrano also tallied. Troy Terry contributed two assists to extend his team lead in scoring, matching the output of Jacob Trouba. Pittsburgh native John Gibson turned in an inspired performance, halting 31 pucks.

Michael Bunting deposited a power-play goal for Pittsburgh. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 29 of 33 shots he faced.

After shaking off a sluggish start, the Ducks struck twice in the first period, turned in a sound second despite surrendering a power-play goal and then pulled away with another pair of even-strength goals to cement the victory.

Early in the closing stanza, a wild sequence saw the two sides trade sterling chances before the Ducks cushioned their lead off McTavish’s second tally of the evening.

First, Cody Glass tested Gibson’s glove with a shot from the slot, before the Ducks went the other way and nearly created a backdoor tap-in for Vatrano, who couldn’t steer the puck on net, instead sending it to the top of the cage.

But after Brian Dumoulin’s dump-in took a fortuitous hop off the end boards and into the slot, McTavish glided into the puck and dazzled with his dangles, working a frazzled Nedeljkovic out of position to sweep in his ninth goal of 2024-25.The Ducks led 3-1, just 2:06 into the final frame.

With 13:08 to play, Vatrano put the game in the refrigerator. A gassed Evgeni Malkin couldn’t catch up to a two-on-one rush on which Erik Karlsson couldn’t impede Terry’s cross-ice pass for Vatrano, setting up a forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand move that allowed him to tuck a shot inside the far post for his 13th goal of the campaign. Vatrano has as many goals against Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.

McTavish nearly completed his hat trick into the empty net, but a last ditch effort by former Duck Rickard Rakell forced his one-handed shot attempt into the post. Instead it was Killorn scoring his second goal of the game and 10th of the season into the vacated cage with two minutes on the clock.

Continuing one of their spurts this season during the second period, the Ducks seemed poised to put the Penguins in a three-goal hole, until Jackson LaCombe’s interference penalty gave Pittsburgh a power play.

The Ducks skirted disaster when Bryan Rust pushed a rebound wide of an open net. But after the Penguins regrouped, Rust would earn the primary assist with a cross-crease pass to Bunting, with the duo having isolated and outnumbered Dumoulin. At the 5:32 mark of the second period, the Ducks had their lead sliced in half.