Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn both score twice in victory over Penguins

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks snapped a four-game losing streak at home on Thursday night after a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn scored two goals in a game for the first time this season in the first and third period. while Frank Vatrano and McTavish have now scored in two straight games.

McTavish finished the night taking just three shots and made two of them while Killorn shot five and scored on two of them.

"It was awesome. The team played really well," McTavish said. "Obviously nice to see some goals go in and hopefully we can keep it up."

For all three periods in Thursday night's victory, the Ducks (19-23-6) played great on all sides of the puck and did a great job at keeping pace of the game while keeping the Penguins (20-22-8) out of their zone and applying pressure in Pittsburgh's zone all night long.

Before Thursday's game, the Ducks offense has been in a slump as of late, scoring just five goals in their last four games.

In the first seven minutes of game time, the Penguins looked like they would be imposing their will on Anaheim, spending most of that time in the Ducks zone but after seven minutes of game time, the Ducks offense turned a corner and never looked back.

"I just think the lines had chemistry," Killorn said. "We didn't have the greatest start. I think the first what was it eight minutes? wasn't great but once we found our legs, we're starting to build chemistry within these lines."

"I think we've got a lot of talent here and I think we've been a little bit snakebitten," McTavish said. "But you know we just gotta stick with it and it was nice to see some go in for the team today."

Anaheim was starting to get aggressive shooting the puck and landed their first shot with 10:32 left in the first period from a goal by McTavish. Anaheim wouldn't stop their quite yet after Killorn scored with 58 seconds left in the period to give them a 2-0 lead before intermission.

Just after Robby Fabbri took a shot into Penguins' goal Alex Nedelikjovic's net. Nedelikjovic attempted to dive on the ice for the puck and Fabbri couldn't slow down and dove right above him. McTavish recovered the puck and flung a shot into a wide-open net.

Killorn's goal came about when worked his way past P.O Joseph with one minute left in the first period and had nothing but ice in front of him and would get his 9th goal of the season on a laser shot to extend Anaheim's lead by two.

In the second period, the Ducks offense didn't land a score but their defense kept them in the game despite giving up a power play goal to Pitssburgh.

Pittsurgh's lone goal came when Jackson Lacombe was sent to the penalty box for an interference call. Micahel Bunting would score on the Penguins' second offensive possession of the power play when he was able to sneak behind John Gibson's blindside to cut their lead by one.

Following Bunting's goal, the Ducks' defense and Gibson would never look back and would set the standard when it came down to playing defense.

With the second period nearing an end, the Penguins had their next big break to get another score after Radko Gudas' stick broke.

Noel Acciari received a pass from Sidney Crosby leaving Gibson's blindside completely open. Gibson was able to fall on his knees and stick his left leg out to prevent a shot that would've likely tied the game at two before intermission.

"That play he makes is a play that not a lot of guys can make. And it's a play that might not get talked about." Killorn said.

In the third period, the Ducks would get their final two goals of the night. Vatrano scored first after Troy Terry passed the puck to Brian Dumoulin who passed to Vatrano for the score. Terry finished the night leading the team in assists with two.

Terry finished the night leading the Ducks with two assists. Trevor Zegras, Ryan Strome, Isace Lundestrom, and Fabbri would all earn assists against the Penguins.

Zegras played in his second straight game after coming back from surgery for a torn meniscus. He finished the night with two shots and one block. Following the game, Killorn credited Zegras' presence on the ice to the success of the offense.

"Playing with Z he's always able to open things up because he's able to hold onto the puck and he's able to make that one play that opens things up." Killorn said.

McTavish's second goal came with 17:54 left in the third period after Brian Dumoulin bounced the puck off the wall. McTavish recovered and was one-on-one with Nedeljkovic and got the fourth goal of the game. Pittsburgh later pulled Nedelijkovic with five minutes left in the game and Killorn would get an empty net goal with 2:00 left in the game to give it's final score.

"In the first period, I thought both teams had a lot of chances and I thought as the game went on we got better defensively." Ducks coach Greg Cronin said.