Tag: NHL hockey

MONTREAL — Colton Sissons scored twice, Juuse Saros made 36 saves and the Nashville Predators held off the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Sunday night.

“We’re starting to understand how to win these kind of games when maybe you lose a little momentum,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette. “Early in the year we probably would have caved a little bit, so I think we’ve been able to grow as a team here.”

Captain Roman Josi assisted on both goals to help Nashville rebound from a 4-0 loss at Toronto on Saturday night.

“We needed a good response,” Sissons said. “I thought we had some juice at the drop of the puck tonight and played a much better game.”

The Predators have won 10 of 13 to improve to 15-13-0.

“Going on the third period, I really felt we understood that maybe we didn’t have the energy, we needed to play a certain way, but we managed the game extremely well,” Brunette said.

Jake Evans scored for Montreal and Jake Allen made 30 saves. Coming off a 3-2 shootout victory in Buffalo on Saturday night, the Canadiens were 0 of 5 on the power play, while Nashville went 1 for 2.

“I’ve really liked our starts lately, but for some reason we have a tough time sustaining that start,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “I felt tonight, we lost momentum because our PP didn’t execute.”

Sissons opened the scoring on a power play with 8:19 left in the first period, deflecting a shot from Filip Forsberg. Sissons struck again at 7:03 of the second, with Dante Fabbro’s point shot bouncing off Allen’s pad to the unmarked Sissons at the side of the net for his ninth of the season.

Evans made it 2-1 with 35 seconds left in the second, beating Saros with a backhander.

Canadiens defenseman David Savard returned after missing 22 games because of a broken hand. Savard rejoined Mike Matheson on the Canadiens’ top pairing and replaced Gustav Lindstrom in the lineup. Montreal sent defenseman Mattias Norlinder to Laval of the American Hockey League to open up a roster spot.

UP NEXT

Predators: Host Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

Canadiens: Host Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The New Jersey Devils won the battle of the Hughes brothers Tuesday night.

Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the night with 34 seconds left in the third period as the Devils defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-5 in a nail-biting NHL game.

Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists, while his younger brother Luke Hughes scored on a power play for the Devils.

Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes had two third-period assists as the Canucks rallied from three goals down to tie the game.

The game was billed as the “Hughes Bowl” as Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes faced his brothers center Jack Hughes and defenseman Luke Hughes of the Devils. Parents Jim Hughes and Ellen Weinberg-Hughes were at the game.

“I always enjoy playing Quinn and seem to have good games in Vancouver against him,” said Jack. “It was a nice win and pretty fun to play with both my brothers.”

Quinn Hughes didn’t appreciate the experience quite as much.

“It’s bittersweet right now,” he said. “I’m sure they’re appreciating it more than I am right now.”

Erik Haula and Michael McLeod also scored for the Devils.

J.T. Miller had a power-play goal and an assist for the Canucks. Brock Boeser, Nils Hoglander, Sam Lafferty and Dakota Joshua also scored for Vancouver.

Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots.

New Jersey’s Vitek Vanecek had 28 saves.

Heading into the third period trailing by three goals, the Canucks refused to quit with Quinn Hughes playing a big part in the comeback.

Boeser struck first, taking a Miller pass from along the boards and scoring his NHL leading 18th of the year at 7:02. Lafferty made it 5-4, deflecting a Quinn Hughes point shot past Vanecek at 13:58. Hoglander tied the game, taking the rebound of a Quinn Hughes shot and firing it into an open net at 16:34.

Bratt won the game when he put in the rebound of a shot through traffic.

“It shows how strong we are as a group that we believe in ourselves,” said Bratt. “We knew it was possible to make a difference and come away with the two points.”

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said the winning goal was an example of what his team did wrong all night long.

“I still don’t understand where our guys were going on that play,” said Tocchet. “You can blame all five guys on the ice for that.”

Luke and Jack Hughes combined for the only goal of the second period, which gave the Devils a 5-2 lead.

Jack Hughes said he watches a lot of Canucks games.

“I have a pretty good read on how they play,” he said. “I think what happened was we got to play our game early and they had to take a few chances.”

Devils coach Lindy Ruff said the Hughes brothers are important to the team.

“We know that Jack can generate and we know what Luke can do from the back end,” he said. “I thought Jack’s line helped get us going.”

The Devils led 4-2 after a wild first period that saw the teams combine for three goals in just over six minutes. They then exchanged goals 58 seconds apart as time ticked away.

It was the ninth time in NHL history three brothers played in the same game. The last time was April 13 when Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers faced Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes.

UP NEXT

Devils: At Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Canucks: Host Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

NEW YORK — Artemi Panarin had three goals and an assist, Jonathan Quick won again, and the New York Rangers held on to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Sunday night.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, Will Cuylle and K’Andre Miller also scored, and Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski each had two assists to help the Rangers win for the sixth time in seven games.

The Metropolitan-Division-leading Rangers have won 16 of their last 19 games, have a league-best 18 wins and are tied with Boston for tops with 37 points.

“It’s a good feeling,” Panarin said. “We look pretty good right now. I hope we can play this way all year.”

Quick stopped 23 shots to improve to 7-0-1 this season, becoming the first goaltender with a point in eight consecutive starts to begin his tenure with the Rangers.

Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist, and Jacob MacDonald, Fabian Zetterlund, Ryan Carpenter and Alexander Barbanov all scored for San Jose. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 30 saves.

The Sharks lost for the 11th time in 12 road games. San Jose was coming off a 6-3 win at New Jersey on Friday night, their first road win of the season after 10 losses.

“Our mental resolve was impressive,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. ”But we have to finish checking and back checking, You can’t leave anything to chance and we left too much to chance.”

Cuylle gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead with his fourth of the season with just under 4 minutes remaining in the second period.

Panarin then completed his hat trick — his third with the Rangers — with his team-leading 15th of the season at 4:41 of the third to make it 5-3.

“He’s always been an elite player but you appreciate him more when you watch him day in and day out,″ Rangers first-year coach Peter Laviolette said about Panarin, who leads the team with 35 points.

Miller gave the Rangers at three-goal lead with 6:56 remaining, but Zetterlund and Barbanov scored just over a minute apart to make it a 6-5 game with 4:10 left.

“They made it interesting at the end,″ Zibanejad added. ”We’ll take this win and these four points this weekend.”

Panarin has points in 19 of his 23 games this season. He became the third player in franchise history with a season-opening home point streak of 10-plus games, joining Mike Rogers in 1983-84 and Wayne Gretzky in 1996-97. Panarin led the Rangers with 92 points last season and 96 the season before that.

“He leaves you speechless sometimes,” Zibanejad said of Panarin. ”I couldn’t be happier having him on our team.”

The Rangers won for the 3,000th time in franchise history, becoming the fifth NHL team to reach the milestone. They reached that figure by defeating 36 different franchises in 87 different venues.

Duclair opened the scoring 3:50 into the game, beating Quick on a breakaway for his sixth, and Panarin tied it at 8:44 on a power play.

Carpenter scored his first of the season with 7:39 remaining in the period to put the Sharks back ahead, but Panarin tied it again 34 seconds later.

Zibanejad put the Rangers ahead 3-2 with 3:18 remaining in the first, beating Blackwood from in close for his sixth.

The Sharks tied it 3-3 on a power-play goal by MacDonald at 9:16 of the second, his fourth of the season and third in two games.

Lafreniere had a penalty-shot chance for the Rangers at 10:16 of the second but was denied by Blackwood.

The Sharks pulled Blackwood with just over two minutes remaining but couldn’t tie it.

“Give our guys a ton of credit,” Quinn added. ”They came ready to play tonight and had a chance to tie it late.”

UP NEXT

Sharks: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Rangers: At Ottawa on Tuesday night.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/nhl

ANAHEIM, Calif. — On a night when one of the Anaheim Ducks most popular players set a franchise record, it was who everyone hopes will be one of its future stars that helped snap an eight-game losing streak.

Rookie Leo Carlsson had a goal and an assist and added the shootout winner in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

John Gibson, who played in his 448th game and surpassed Jean-Sebastien Giguere for most games played by a goaltender in Ducks history, stopped 34 shots and all three in the shootout.

“Obviously, being on that losing streak, we had to get out of it sooner or later and we needed everybody to step up and we did. We found a way,” Gibson said.

Colorado has dropped two straight, but might have a bigger worries. Defenseman Cale Makar, the NHL’s Player of the Month for November, missed the final three minutes of regulation and did not play in overtime.

Coach Jared Bednar said after the game that Makar is “dealing with something, so he wasn’t able to go.”

Makar had a league-high 21 assists and ranked second with 25 points in November, franchise records for a defenseman in a single month.

Anaheim’s win meant it didn’t tie its franchise record for consecutive losses and also provided a sense of relief for a young locker room and first-year coach Greg Cronin.

“It grates on you. You can spin it all you want about the process and the measurables that we look at that reflect the quality of your game, but you keep losing you just feel it,” Cronin said. “Tonight we stayed with it and we were rewarded with a win.”

Carlsson, the second overall pick in June’s draft, skated in and deked Colorado goalie Ivan Prosvetov to have a clear shot at the net for the only goal in the shootout round.

“I kind of lost the puck there, so I was nervous for a second. After that, I knew that I had him so it was good shot,” said Carlsson, who has seven goals. That is second among rookies and four behind Chicago’s Connor Bedard.

Anaheim’s Alex Killorn scored his 200th career goal and became the second player selected in the third round or later of the 2007 draft to reach that milestone. Kilorn also had an assist for his second multipoint game of the season.

Adam Henrique also scored for the Ducks.

Bowen Byram had a pair of first-period goals for Colorado. Devon Toews had a goal and Prosvetov made 34 saves.

Valeri Nichushkin had his point streak snapped at nine games.

“I thought it was a highly competitive hockey game. It felt like they owned portions of the game, and then I felt like we owned some portions of the game myself,” Bednar said. “Once you get to a shootout it’s kind of like flip a coin.”

Colorado quickly jumped out on a pair of goals by Byram in the first nine minutes. He scored from the high slot on a 3-on-2 rush 36 seconds into the game and then put a 82 mph snap shot past Gibson at 8:59 to finish off a 2-on-1.

Anaheim got to 2-1 when Henrique tipped in Ryan Strome’s pass on the power play but Colorado took a two-goal lead into the first intermission when Toews wired a snap shot past Gibson’s glove and into the far side of the net with 43 seconds remaining.

The Ducks got back within a goal at 2:58 of the second when Carlsson beat Prosvetov with a high shot in front of the net.

Killorn tied it 3-3 at 10:22 on a snap shot from the right faceoff circle for Anaheim’s second power-play goal.

Anaheim center Mason McTavish suffered an upper-body injury during the first period and did not return.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: Remain in Southern California to face the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

Ducks: Travel to Colorado on Tuesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mikael Granlund broke a tie 22 seconds into the third period, Ty Emberson scored his first career NHL goal and the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday night for their fourth victory in the first 21 games.

Granlund scored for the first time since joining the Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade this offseason. The veteran forward sped from his own end, deked Filip Hronek with an inside-out move and beat goalie Casey DeSmith.

“I just found a lane and obviously got around the D-man there and was able to put the puck in,” Granlund said. “Obviously, it feels good to get the goal and get on the scoreboard.”

Mike Hoffman scored on a 4-on-3 power play minutes later, his sixth goal in six games. Fabian Zetterlund rounded out the scoring and Kaapo Kahkonen made 33 saves. San Jose has earned points in consecutive games for the second time this season.

Sharks coach David Quinn was proud of his team for the progress it has made over the last three weeks since giving up 10 goals in back-to-back games at home, one of them against the Canucks on Nov. 2.

“No one’s probably faced more adversity than we have, and these guys have stuck together and all they’ve done is come here and get better every day,” Quinn said. “I give them a ton of credit.”

The Sharks ended an 11-game losing streak against the Canucks, which had been the third longest active streak in the NHL.

Emberson, kicked off the scoring in the first period with a slap shot.

“It’s a dream come true, and obviously something that you work a long time for,” Emberson said. “But it was nice to get it in a win.”

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said he thought too many players were not ready. Both teams were playing the second of a back-to-back. The Canucks, who are off to a hot start this season, have lost four of their last six.

“You’ve got to respect your opponents,” Tocchet said. “This is a learning lesson. Playoff teams don’t do this sort of stuff.”

Brock Boeser had two goals for the Canucks, the second cutting the lead in half with 3:13 left. He had a power play goal in the second.

Canucks star defenseman Quinn Hughes extended his NHL-best points streak to 11 games, getting the second assist on Hronek’s power-play goal in the first period.

Vancouver forward Andrei Kuzmenko was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. He has struggled after scoring 39 goals last season. Tocchet declined to comment on the decision after the game, saying only that “we’ll deal with that later.”

The Sharks and Canucks played each other three times in November, with San Jose finally notching a win.

“In my opinion, they’ve gotten better and better each game we’ve played,” Boeser said. “They were ready tonight and we got off to a slow start, so we got to be better.”

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host Anaheim on Tuesday night.

Sharks: Host Washington on Monday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

STOCKHOLM — William Nylander scored at 3:09 of overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs extended their winning streak to four with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday in the final game of the NHL’s Global Series in Sweden.

Nylander collected the puck, skated toward the net and fired a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury for his 12th goal of the season. He also extended his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 17 games.

Nylander had five points (two goals, three assists) in Toronto’s two games in Stockholm.

Auston Matthews added a goal and an assist for Toronto. He tied Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets for the league lead with 14 goals.

Matthew Knies scored his fifth of the season, Morgan Rielly added a goal and two assists and Joseph Woll stopped 33 shots for Toronto, which was playing outside North America for the first time in its more than 100-year history.

Mitch Marner had two assists for the Maple Leafs to surpass 400 for his career.

Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist and defensemen Jon Merrill and Jake Middleton also scored for Minnesota, which lost its fifth straight (0-3-2). Fleury stopped 21 shots.

Trailing 3-1 in the third, the Wild tied it on goals by Middleton’s and Zuccarello 2:32 apart to force overtime.

It was the final game of this series at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena. The Ottawa Senators beat the Detroit Red Wings in overtime on Thursday, the Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings on Friday and the Wild lost to the Senators in a shootout on Saturday in the first four-team event the league has held in one city outside of North America. The games are the first for the NHL in Sweden since the pandemic.

Merrill put the Wild 1-0 up at 2:37 of the first with a snap shot from the slot for his first of the season.

Toronto rebounded to take a 2-1 lead on Matthews’ wrist shot on a power play at 12:43. And Marner found Knies with a cross-ice pass to one-time a slap shot from the right circle at 18:23.

Rielly stretched Toronto’s lead to 3-1 from the top of the left circle 4:22 into the third.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

Wild: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

NEW YORK — Alexis Lafreniere’s second goal of the game tied it with 11 seconds left in regulation, and then he had the only score in the shootout as the New York Rangers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Sunday night.

Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, who are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. Artemi Panarin had two assists to extend his season-opening point streak to 14 games, tying Hall-of-Famer Rod Gilbert for the franchise record set in 1972-73. Jonathan Quick made 26 saves.

“I’m playing with really good linemates and trying to get open,” said Lafreniere, who had his first career three-point game in last Thursday’s 4-1 win over Minnesota. “We’ve got a lot of games to play, so I’m just trying to stay consistent and keep playing well.”

Justin Danforth, Adam Fantilli and Sean Kuraly scored for Columbus, with lost its fifth straight (0-3-2). Erik Gudbranson had two assists and Elvis Merzlikins finished with 37 saves.

“We played a good game. In the third period, we had our chances … but we were 11 seconds short,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. ”Elvis played well.”

The Rangers had 17 shots on goal in the third period, finally breaking through in the waning seconds.

“That was a wild one for sure,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “They fought and competed real hard.”

In the tiebreaker, Lafreniere backhanded the puck past Merzlikins in the third round, and Quick denied Alexandre Texier to secure the win.

“They are going in expecting to win,″ Laviolette said. ”Jonathan was really good tonight. … The team is finding ways to get it done.”

Quick returned after he wasn’t available for New York’s win over Minnesota due to an upper-body injury.

Despite participating in New York’s morning skate on Sunday, starter Igor Shesterkin didn’t dress as he continues to work through minor soreness. Louis Domingue, who got his first win with the Rangers in the last game, was Quick’s backup as Shesterkin missed his fourth straight game.

“They got some pressure in the second. They took the lead but we didn’t stop we kept coming,” said Quick, who improved to 4-0-1. ”We were able to get one late to tie it, then get one in the shootout to win it. It’s great.”

With Quick pulled for an extra attacker, Lafreniere was able to slide the puck past Merzlikins to send the Madison Square Garden crowd into hysterics as he tied it 3-3 in the closing seconds.

“The crowd was really loud tonight,” Lafreniere said. “It was fun.”

Fantilli and Kuraly had scored 19 seconds apart midway through the second period to give Columbus a 3-2 lead.

Lafreniere had given the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 11:17 of the second before the two quick strikes by Columbus.

Lafreniere finished off a precision passing play from Vincent Trocheck and Panarin by whipping the puck past Merzlikins.

The teams traded goals in the first as Danforth opened the scoring with 3:34 left, deflecting Gudbranson’s shot past Quick for his fourth of the season.

Kreider tied it with 1:14 remaining in the period with his 10th. Kreider leads the Rangers in goals this season and his 275 career goals place him five behind Adam Graves for third on the all-time franchise list.

Gustafsson has 10 points this season, including three goals.

Fantilli, the 19-year-old rookie forward drafted third overall by Columbus last June, tied the contest at 12:35 of the second before Kuraly put the visitors ahead at 12:54 with his fifth.

The Rangers appeared to tie it with 1:37 remaining in the second after a sharp-angle shot by Will Cullye wedged between Merzlikins and the post. But after a lengthy review by referees Kevin Pollock and Brandon Blandina, they ruled the play was frozen before Kaapo Kaako tapped the puck just into the net.

UP NEXT

Blue Jackets: Host Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Rangers: At New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Tomas Hertl scored a goal and set up another to help the San Jose Sharks win their second straight game following 11 consecutive losses to open the season, 3-2 over the slumping Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

“It was by far the best game of the year,” Hertl said. “I think everybody played really well. It wasn’t just one guy. … I’m really proud of the group after two tough losses.”

In a matchup of the NHL’s two worst teams so far this season, it was Connor McDavid and the Oilers who ended up on the losing end despite having 49 more shot attempts than San Jose.

“I don’t really know what to say,” forward Leon Draisaitl said. “We tend to outshoot other teams consistently, probably out-chance other teams consistently. We’re not in sync right now.”

Hertl assisted on Fabian Zetterlund’s goal that opened the scoring in the first period and then took advantage of a fortunate bounce to score midway through the second period.

Filip Zadina also scored for San Jose, which ended an an eight-game losing streak against the Oilers.

Mackenzie Blackwood made 39 saves, coming up big on an Edmonton power-play late in the game after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored with the goalie pulled with 2:26 to play.

San Jose has held its last two opponents to one goal after giving up 10 in back-to-back losses.

“It feels good to back up what we did the other night, and even better,” coach David Quinn said.

Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers.

McDavid, who led the NHL with 64 goals last season, has no goals in his last seven games. The Oilers have lost four straight and have one win in their last nine contests. Their five points are tied with the 1993-94 team for the fewest through 12 games in franchise history and tied with San Jose for the fewest this season.

“We can’t really be looking at the standings right now,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We got to look within ourselves and not worry about the rest of what’s going on around us.”

Stuart Skinner made 15 saves for Edmonton in the first game since the Oilers sent high-priced goalie Jack Campbell to the AHL in what coach Jay Woodcroft described as a “message” to his struggling team.

Woodcroft said after the move that he expected the Oilers to play their best game of the season but that didn’t materialize. Woodcroft said he wasn’t worried about his job security

“I worry about taking care of my daily business and my daily process and making sure that I give my players something to focus on and concentrate on,” he said. “No one’s happy with where we’re at. We all own it. We can be better and that’s where my focus is.”

The Sharks responded late in the period when Nikita Okhtiuk’s pass deflected off Zetterlund to an open Hertl in the slot. Hertl beat Skinner for his second goal of the season.

Zadina added an insurance goal early in the third when he scored on a 2-on-1 rush off a pass from Nico Sturm.

That was enough to give the Sharks their second win of the season after tying a record with 11 straight losses — including one in a shootout — to open the season.

UP NEXT

Oilers: At Seattle on Saturday night.

Sharks: At Vegas on Friday night.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Tristan Jarry and Magnus Hellberg combined on a 32-save shutout after Jarry left with an injury late in the second period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped the Anaheim Ducks’ six-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.

Radim Zohorna scored in the first period and Sidney Crosby added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who avenged Anaheim’s spectacular 4-3 comeback victory in Pittsburgh eight days ago.

“What I loved about our third period is that we competed hard, that we defended well,” Pens coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s a good win for our team, especially to close it out in a low-scoring game against a team that’s beaten a lot of good teams lately.”

Jarry made 21 saves for Pittsburgh before leaving the game with a cut near his right eye. Jarry’s head hit Ducks forward Adam Henrique, who had his back turned to the goalie outside the crease, yet Jarry still inadvertently stopped the puck when Henrique attempted to fire a rebound shot underneath him.

Sullivan said after the game that Jarry was still being evaluated.

Hellberg took over and stopped 11 shots in the third period of Pittsburgh’s second straight victory to open its three-game California road trip following a 1-5-0 slump.

“There’s always pressure on this level,” Hellberg said. “I just had to try to come up big for the team. … I’m just really happy we got the win because of the game we had in Pittsburgh when I think they stole a win from us.”

John Gibson made 34 saves against his hometown team for the upstart Ducks, who hadn’t lost since Oct. 22 in their longest winning streak in two years. Anaheim was shut out for the first time this season.

Ducks center Mason McTavish’s seven-game point streak ended. The 20-year-old scored the late tying goal in Pittsburgh last week before adding the winning short-handed goal with 13 seconds to play.

Ducks coach Greg Cronin said he could tell the Penguins spent plenty of practice time last week refining their defensive concepts after blowing their late lead over Anaheim in Pittsburgh.

“It was an awkward game,” Cronin said. “You could feel it. There wasn’t a lot of rhythm to the game. There wasn’t a lot of scoring chances either way. It was like two boxers just jabbing each other.”

Anaheim had five late comebacks during its six-game winning streak, but the Ducks failed to become only the fourth team in NHL history with four consecutive third-period comeback victories.

Zohorna scored his third goal in seven games since rejoining the Penguins this season, getting a lucky deflection off Gibson’s pads and underneath the goalie late in the first period.

Anaheim ramped up its attack in the third period, but repeatedly missed the mark. Moments after Ross Johnston couldn’t collect a rebound in the crease in time to hit an open net, Troy Terry’s deflected wrist shot hit Hellberg’s far post.

McTavish briefly had the puck in the crease with 3:30 left, but couldn’t get it under Hellberg.

Crosby scored his sixth goal of the season with 19.5 seconds left, lofting home a backhand from mid-ice.

“We didn’t have a great first period, but we stuck with it,” Crosby said. “So hopefully we can learn from this and keep going.”

UP NEXT

Penguins: At Los Angeles on Thursday.

Ducks: Host Philadelphia on Friday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL