Recap: Ducks Hold On for 5-3 Victory Over Penguins at Honda Center

ANAHEIM - Nothing tends to come easy for the Anaheim Ducks, and so it went tonight at Honda Center against the two-time defending Cup champs.

A three-goal lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins was whittled down to just one in the third period, forcing the Ducks to hang on for dear life over the final five minutes in a 5-3 victory.
Having not played on home ice for the past 17 days, the Ducks made a triumphant return in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 17,291 by erupting for four goals in the second period to go in front 4-1. The Penguins took the game's first lead late in the first period, but Rickard Rakell,
Adam Henrique
, Chris Wagner and Ondrej Kase each reeled off goals in a span of just over 14 minutes to surge the Ducks ahead.
"It never," Wagner said, "really comes easy."
Indeed, Pittsburgh came back with a pair of power-play goals in the third, while the Ducks had two premium scoring chances from Henrique and Kase ring off posts from in deep. Pittsburgh nearly tied it with a minute and a half left and their net empty, as a Kris Letang shot teetered in the crease before Josh Manson cleared it out. Not long afterward, Hampus Lindholm put an exclamation point on the game when he rolled the puck into the empty Penguins net with 0.2 seconds left.
"I thought we did a good job sticking with it," Henrique said. "We had some big plays. Couple big saves, blocked shots and clears. That's a huge win for our team."
The victory snapped a four-game winning streak for the Penguins, as the Ducks improved to 7-3-1 in their last 11 and moved to within two points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They also swept the season series with the Penguins, who they beat 4-0 last month in Pittsburgh.
The Pens went in front with just a minute and a half left in the opening period when Evgeni Malkin buried a shot from between the circles.
Anaheim got even 4:17 into the middle session courtesy of newly named All-Star Rakell, who got a piece of a Francois Beauchemin slap shot and Ryan Getzlaf redirect and bounced it under goalie Tristan Jarry for his team-leading 16th goal.

A late scoring change came when off-ice officials determined Getzlaf got a piece of the puck after Beauchemin's shot, giving the Ducks captain his 600th career assist, becoming the first player in Ducks history to reach the milestone. Getzlaf is also the 41st player in NHL history to record 600 assists with one team. He has 22 assists in 22 games, tied for second in the NHL in assists-per-game (1.00).
Henrique added his 10th of the season (his sixth with Anaheim) not long afterward, catching Jarry way out of position to tuck in the wraparound.

The Ducks made it 3-1 shorthanded near the halfway point of the period when Wagner chased down the puck on left wing, then walked in and slid it under Jarry all alone in front.

"It was a nice spark," Wagner said. "I thought our forecheck was pretty good. We capitalized on a couple of chances. We got better as the game went on besides a couple penalties in the third. We can't give that team the puck, turnover the puck in the third like that. We found a way to win. That's all that counts."
The two-goal lead was bumped to three late in the period on a beautiful play by Kase, who blocked a shot and sprinted down on another breakaway, backhanding the puck top shelf.

Kase nearly cashed in another breakaway in the third, going forehand off the right post, barely missing the chance to give Anaheim a commanding lead. Instead, Pittsburgh got back into it 8:35 into the third on a Phil Kessel goal, beating goalie John Gibson from the right wing on the power play.
Another power play generated from two Kevin Bieksa penalties led to the third Pittsburgh goal, as Jake Guentzel one-timed one home from the left wing circle to make it 4-3 and make things much more tense down the stretch for Anaheim.
"If you look at the start of the third period, we hit two posts," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "The game would've been all over. It would've been a totally different game. It wasn't like we didn't create enough chances. We had our chances. It was disappointing we took two penalties and they scored two goals to make it exciting, but I guess the entertainment value in this game was up there."
A lengthy road trip to start 2018, coupled with a bye week, handed the Ducks an extended time away from Honda Center, but they'll get used to the friendly confines in the coming days. Tonight marked the first of a five-game homestand that continues Friday night vs. LA.