Rookie Pierre-Olivier Joseph scored twice in a three-point game and Evgeni Malkin collected his 1,200th career point as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins claimed a 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
Kasperi Kapanen and Bryan Rust both netted one goal and one assist, while Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins. Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 28 saves.
Malkin collected two assists to reach the latest milestone in his career. Sidney Crosby collected an assist to extend his point scoring streak to nine games, in which he has collected three goals and 14 points.
Mason McTavish scored in a two-point game and Trevor Zegras and John Klingberg added a goal apiece for the Ducks, who sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Goalie John Gibson stopped 53 shots, a franchise record for a regular-season game.
Pittsburgh’s 59 shots set a franchise record for a road game.
The Penguins, with veteran defenseman Kris Letang out due to illness, took control with a three-goal opening period in which they outshot the Ducks 25-8.
Joseph stepped up by producing the first two-goal game of his career and matching a career best with three points. He opened the scoring at the 9:03 mark with a long point shot.
Zegras replied with a power-play goal at the 15:26 mark of the opening frame, his 19th of the campaign.
Kapanen responded with a power-play goal of his own two minutes later when his pass attempt ricocheted off the skate of Ducks defenseman Simon Benoit and into the net for his seventh of the season.
Carter’s eighth goal of the season with 12.2 seconds remaining in the opening period made it a 3-1 affair.
Joseph ripped a top-shelf shot for his second of the game and fourth of the season with 5:05 remaining in the second period.
Rust buried a chance from in tight midway through the third period to net his 13th of the season before Guentzel collected his 21st of the season a couple of minutes later to make it a 6-1 game.
After McTavish netted his 11th of the season, Klingberg rounded out the scoring with his seventh.
Earlier in the day, Anaheim’s Troy Terry, who is second on the team with 42 points, was placed on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury sustained on Monday.
–Field Level Media
