Monday in Pittsburgh had the Anaheim Ducks visiting the Penguins.
John Gibson made 28 saves for the Ducks after a soft first period where he yielded two goals as the Pans took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust staked the Penguins to that early lead.
“We were pretty soft with the puck in the first period,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “We allowed them, with their speed and their skill, to dictate the pace of the game. We didn’t really create any grind game. If you noticed, once we started to play more of a dump-and-chase, strong forecheck, we started to get some results.”
Problem for Pittsburgh was, that was all they could muster as Gibson and the Ducks responded with a four-goal run to take the win, 4-2,
Adam Henrique, Kiefer Sherwood and Ondrej Kase all scored in the middle frame to give the Ducks a rare lead, 3-2, headed into the third period.
The Ducks improved to 19-11-5.
“I think we’re just getting more comfortable. … We didn’t have the best start, but I think we learned a lot from it. We learned the team that we can be. I think we’re starting to put it together here now. Maybe it wasn’t the best start, but I think we just we have the ability to stay composed and know that we have the ability to come back,” Gibson said after the win.
Coughing up two-goal leads has become a nasty trend for the Penguins.
“We have to sustain momentum when we get it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we played 40 minutes tonight. We didn’t play 60. That second period, we didn’t play as well as we’re capable. We start off on the very first shift, we take a penalty. It snowballs from there.
“We take two penalties in the first six minutes of the second period, and we lose momentum. So we’ve got to have a little bit more push back in those situations.”
Pittsburgh dropped to 15-12-6.
Ryan Getzlaf closed out the scoring with a late empty-net goal.
“Sometimes when you get in other buildings, it’s tough when a couple bounces don’t go your way early,” Getzlaf said. “It’s a little bit of an uphill battle. I thought tonight, we did a good job of just staying with our plan, executing with the puck a little bit better, obviously in the second period. We got going as the game went on.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Penguins highlights]
Casey DeSmith made 32 saves in the loss.
“We lead by a couple of goals and we try to play like casually,” Malkin said. “We need to understand we play against a good team, and they try to come back. Again, we play at home. We need to control the game. We just [take] a couple bad penalties. They change the game quick. It’s the NHL. We play against good players. Any team tries to come back. It doesn’t matter the score.”
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