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 Behind backup goalie Thomas Greiss and strong secondary scoring, the
Penguins effectively walked over the club with the NHL's best
record.
"We really were able to roll four lines and three sets of D,"
current Penguins and former Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. "When
you're doing that, everybody's involved and into the game.
"Our third and fourth lines were very good tonight and maybe pushed
our first two (lines) and got them going. We were rolling."
Greiss turned away 27 of 29 shots to help his club to what was a 4-0
lead at one point. Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen, who struggled
at times, made 16 of 20 saves.
"Sometimes a goalie lets in ones that he'd love to have back,"
Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "With the amount of times our
goalies have kept us in the game, there's no way I'm gonna
(complain) about it if they let a soft one in every now and again."
The Penguins got two goals from right winger Patric Hornqvist, as
well as a goal and an assist each from left winger Blake Comeau and
centers Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. They scored five goals
despite going 0-for-5 on the power play.
Left winger Tomas Fleischmann and right winger Corey Perry lit the
lamp for the Ducks.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring 9:51 into the second period when
Comeau ripped a precise slap shot under the intersection of the
right post and the crossbar. It was Comeau's 15th goal of the
season.
The Penguins created some breathing room 2:02 later off a faceoff
win and an ostensibly harmless play. They won an offensive-zone draw
and left winger David Perron rimmed the puck around the back of the
Anaheim goal. As it slid slowly along the end line, Hornqvist shot
from a sharp angle, banking the puck off the back of Andersen's left
leg.
"He can't see what's behind him so he probably thinks I'm going to
pass and that usually opens up a little spot," Hornqvist said. "I
got lucky on that one, but if you don't shoot, you don't score."
With 1:03 left in the period, Pittsburgh took a commanding lead off
Hornqvist's 21st goal, which he scored by redirecting defenseman Ian
Cole's point shot. Hornqvist bumped his total to 22 points in 21
career games against Anaheim, doing much of his damage from very
close range as he did Friday.
"That's where I usually am. I try to go there as much as I can,"
Hornqvist said.
The Penguins slammed the door 2:03 into the third period when
Malkin's wrist shot bounced off Andersen and trickled across the
goal line for his 28th goal of the season. Malkin's two points
vaulted him into a four-way tie for the league lead with 67.
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Anaheim broke up the shutout with 10:57 remaining. Fleischmann took
a drop pass and put a wrist shot on net that ricocheted off the top
of Greiss' glove and behind him. The goal was Fleischmann's eighth
of the season and first as a Duck.
The goal galvanized the Ducks, who struck again with 6:52 remaining
when Perry batted a deflected centering pass out of the air and into
the net for his 28th goal this season. Perry now has 11 goals in 11
career games against Pittsburgh.
"Everybody knows how good that team is, and we were able to handle
them pretty handily tonight," said Lovejoy. "Once they get rolling,
they're tough to stop, and they were able to do that in the last 10
minutes of the game. Luckily, it was a little too little, a little
too late."
With 10 seconds remaining, Crosby scored an empty-netter for his
21st goal of the season.
NOTES: Anaheim was without LW Matt Beleskey (shoulder), D Sami
Vatanen (lower body), RW Tim Jackman (lower body) and D James
Wisniewski (foot). Beleskey, Vatanen and Wisniewski are all making
progress and are likely to travel with the team on their upcoming
road trip. ... Pittsburgh RW Craig Adams was inserted into the
lineup in place of RW Steve Downie. RW Beau Bennett took Downie's
spot on the third line and Adams slotted in on the fourth. ... Ducks
D Simon Despres and Penguins D Ben Lovejoy were traded for each
other on Monday's trade deadline and each player faced his former
club for the first time since the deal. ... The Penguins were
missing D Christian Ehrhoff (concussion), D Olli Maatta (shoulder)
and LW Pascal Dupuis. Maatta and Dupuis will not return this season.
Ehrhoff returned for one game on Feb. 25 but began experiencing
concussion-related symptoms again, sidelining him anew.
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