PITTSBURGH (AP) — Adam Henrique and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and an assist, and the Anaheim Ducks rallied past the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Monday night.

The Ducks won for the ninth time in 10 games after spotting the Penguins a two-goal lead. Henrique started the comeback with a power-play goal early in the second period and Getzlaf’s empty net tally in the final minute pushed Anaheim to its sixth straight road win. Ondrej Kase and Kiefer Sherwood also scored for the Ducks.

John Gibson, a Pittsburgh native, stopped 28 shots, including the final 24 he faced to pick up the victory in his hometown.

Evgeni Malkin got his 11th goal of the season for Pittsburgh and Bryan Rust added his sixth but the Penguins couldn’t cool off the Ducks. Casey DeSmith finished with 32 saves but lost for only the third time in his last 11 starts.

The Penguins have spent the last month slowly recovering from a sluggish start that at one point had them flirting with last place in the Eastern Conference. Yet even as they’ve pulled themselves back into contention — thanks in no small part to solid play by DeSmith — the Penguins are still sorting things out on the defensive end. They swept a back-to-back with Boston and Los Angeles over the weekend, games they won despite allowing a combined 92 shots.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan cautioned it’s not a formula that was sustainable. And for a brief stretch in the first period it appeared the Penguins were intent on buckling down. Pittsburgh jumped to a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal by Malkin 9:38 into the game and Rust followed with his fifth in four games when he jammed in a shot from the near post less than five minutes later.

However, deficits do little to deter the Ducks. Each of Anaheim’s previous nine victories came in games they were either tied or trailing heading into the final period. Anaheim didn’t wait that long this time to get back in it. The Ducks 19 consecutive shots during one stretch. Henrique’s power-play goal 2:07 into the second got Anaheim going. Sherwood streaked down the slot, took a feed from former Penguin Carter Rowney and fired a wrist shot by DeSmith to even the score at 5:33.

Kase then put Anaheim in front. Getzlaf won a draw in the left faceoff circle and flipped the puck on net. Kase jumped on the rebound with 1:13 left in the second to give the Ducks the lead.

Gibson made sure it stood up. He held firm as the Penguins made a push in the third period and Getzlaf’s empty netter with 49 seconds left gave Anaheim its third consecutive win over Pittsburgh.

NOTES: Pittsburgh fell to 6-1-1 against the Pacific Division. … Ducks F Daniel Sprong, traded from Pittsburgh to Anaheim in exchange for D Marcus Pettersson earlier this month, had an assist in 14:47. Pettersson skated 18:07 for the Penguins. … Pittsburgh D Kris Letang returned to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Penguins Fs Patric Hornqvist (concussion) and Dominik Simon (lower body) remain “day to day” according Sullivan. … Pittsburgh scratched Ds Chad Ruhwedel and Juusso Riikola and F Jean-Sebastien Dea. Anaheim scratched F Ben Street and D Andrej Sustr. … Anaheim D Hampus Lindholm played in his 400th NHL game. … The Ducks went 1 for 2 on the power play. The Penguins were 1 for 4.

UP NEXT

Ducks: Continue a season-high six-game road trip on Tuesday in New York against the Rangers.

Penguins: Travel to Washington on Wednesday. The teams have split their first two meetings, both winning on home ice.

Goals:

Ducks:

Ryan Getzlaf (19:11)

Goals:

Ducks

Adam Henrique (2:07)

Kiefer Sherwood (5:33)

Ondrej Kase (18:47)

Goals:

Penguins:

Evgeni Malkin (9:38)

Bryan Rust (14:32)

 

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Phil Kessel scored a power-play goal at 3:59 of overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

Evgeni Malkin pushed a loose puck from the slot to Kessel, and he finished near the side of the net for the Penguins’ fifth victory in seven games.

Tanner Pearson scored against his former team, and Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust also had goals for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 38 saves for his first victory since Oct. 25 at Calgary.

Murray stopped Tyler Toffoli’s breakaway in the first 30 seconds of overtime. The goalie also denied a quality overtime chance from Jake Muzzin in the slot.

Muzzin, Matt Luff and Alex Iafallo scored for Los Angeles, and Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots. The Kings have lost four straight and eight of 10.

Iafallo tied it at 3 with a power-play goal at 12:30 of the third period.

Murray missed the previous nine games with a lower-body injury before backing up Casey DeSmith the last two contests. He made his first start since Nov. 17 when he was pulled for the third time in six starts during a loss at Ottawa.

Murray, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, struggled through his first 11 games, posting a 4-5-1 record with a 4.08 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage.

Cullen’s short-handed goal opened the scoring for Pittsburgh. It was the Penguins’ second of the season and second in as many games.

Rust extended the Penguins’ lead to 2-0 later in the period when he beat Quick to the glove side with a wrist shot.

Toffoli scored in the first period for the Kings, but the goal was overturned following a Pittsburgh offsides challenge.

Muzzin’s goal stood at 3:22 of the second period. Muzzin, a former Penguins’ draft pick, finished a one-timer from Anze Kopitar during an odd-man rush.

Pearson put Pittsburgh in front 3-1 midway through the second period. He stripped Drew Doughty of the puck at the Kings’ blueline, eluded Quick’s poke check and elevated a shot above the fallen Kings’ goaltender.

Pearson skated four full seasons and parts of two others with the Kings before he was traded to the Penguins on Nov. 14 in exchange for Carl Hagelin, who is out with a lower-body injury. Pearson, who won a Stanley Cup with Los Angeles in 2014, has four goals and six points in 16 games with Pittsburgh.

Luff pulled Los Angeles back within one when he beat Murray to the blocker side with a wrist shot from the slot.

NOTES: Pittsburgh has won four straight at home. … The Penguins played without D Kris Letang, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained Friday in a collision with Boston Bruins’ F Joakim Nordstrom. Juuso Riikola took Letang’s spot in the lineup. … Kings’ D Dion Phaneuf missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. … Pittsburgh F Jake Guentzel extended an eight-game home point streak.

UP NEXT

Kings: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night.

Penguins: Host Anaheim on Monday night.

Goals:

Penguins:

Phil Kessel (3:59)

Goals:

Kings:

Alex Iafallo (12:30)