Guentzel's hat trick rallies Pens past skidding Ducks 7-4
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored three times, Phil Kessel got the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from an early three-goal deficit for a 7-4 victory over the Ducks on Friday night, sending Anaheim to its 10th consecutive loss.
Tanner Pearson scored the tying goal midway through the third and added another with 3:25 left for the Penguins, who roared back for their 10th win in 11 games with a four-goal third period.
Evgeni Malkin had a goal and three assists, while Guentzel scored two goals in the second period and added an empty-netter to wrap up his second hat trick of the season in a wild opener to Pittsburgh's five-game West Coast trip.
Jakob Silfverberg scored a go-ahead, short-handed goal late in the second period, but the Ducks are 0-7-3 since winning on Dec. 17 at Pittsburgh, going 0-7-3.
John Gibson made 29 saves against his hometown team, but was shredded in the third period along with Anaheim's struggling defense.
Matt Murray stopped 21 shots for Pittsburgh.
Nick Ritchie, Ryan Getzlaf and Daniel Sprong scored in the first period, but the Ducks couldn't maintain their start.
HURRICANES 4, SABRES 3
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho scored two goals off the skates of Buffalo defensemen, and Carolina held on to spoil Jeff Skinner's return to Raleigh.
Micheal Ferland had a deflected goal and two assists, Justin Williams also scored and Teuvo Teravainen added two assists. The Hurricanes scored three goals in 7:27 of the second period and have won five of six for the first time this season to move within five points of a playoff spot.
Skinner scored his 30th goal in his first game against Carolina since he was traded to the Sabres. Jason Pominville also scored and Kyle Okposo pulled Buffalo within one with a deflected goal of his own with 3:12 remaining.
The Sabres have lost five of seven, going 2-4-1 in that stretch. They had Jack Eichel back in the lineup after the center with a team-best 49 points missed three games with an upper-body injury.
Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves for Carolina. Carter Hutton stopped 26 shots for the Sabres but gave up three fluky goals — including two to Aho.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Michael Frolik had a goal and two assists to lead streaking Calgary to a comeback victory over Florida.
Frolik has eight points (four goals, four assists) in seven games since coach Bill Peters made the veteran a healthy scratch on Dec. 29.
Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Flames (29-13-4). The Western Conference leaders have won four in a row to improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine.
Johnny Gaudreau had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (seven goals, nine assists).
Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Florida. The struggling Panthers are winless in their last five, including an 0-2-1 start to a five-game road trip.
David Rittich made 24 saves to improve to 17-4-3 for the Flames.
Roberto Luongo, tested 23 times, dropped to 8-10-1 for the Panthers.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists as Winnipeg defeated Detroit.
Bryan Little scored the game-winning goal for his 500th career point. Brandon Tanev and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets, and Wheeler added an assist.
Laurent Brossoit made his 10th start of the season and stopped 33 shots for Winnipeg.
Luke Glendening had a short-handed goal and defenseman Dennis Cholowski scored on the power play for Detroit, which lost its third straight. Jonathan Bernier made 23 saves for the struggling Red Wings, who are 1-7-2 in their last 10 games.
