Ducks' Gibson right at home in shutout of Pens
PITTSBURGH -- Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson made 29 saves Saturday night for his 13th career shutout as he beat his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 at PPG Paints Arena.
Gibson, 24, from the Pittsburgh suburb of Whitehall, had been 1-3-0 against the Penguins and got the start ahead of Ryan Miller, who is 8-17-3 all-time against Pittsburgh.
With his team up 3-0 in the second, Gibson made a huge save on Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, lunging back and to his left and getting his blocker above his head to stop a sharp-angle shot to help preserve his first shutout this season.
Ondrej Kase, Rickard Rakell, Andrew Cogliano and Cam Fowler staked the Ducks to a 4-0 lead through two periods. Anaheim (16-13-8) finished a six-game road trip 3-2-1.
Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray gave up three goals on 13 shots before he was pulled for rookie Tristan Jarry, who stopped nine of 10 shots.
The Penguins (18-16-3) lost for the fifth time in seven games and failed to build on an emotionally charged 3-2 shootout victory Thursday against Columbus.
Anaheim pounced on a couple giveaways to build a 2-0 lead in the first.
A turnover by Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang in the neutral zone led to a breakaway for Kase. With Letang in pursuit, Kase moved down the slot and beat Murray with a backhand shot at 3:10.
Ryan Getzlaf picked up an assist to extend his point streak to six games.
Rakell made it 2-0 at 10:35 with his 10th goal after the Penguins' Carter Rowney lost the puck in his own end. Rakell's backhander squirted through Murray's pads.
That gave the Ducks two goals on five shots.
Anaheim boosted its lead to 3-0 and chased Murray when Cogliano scored on a short-handed breakaway at 3:42 of the second. It was the first short-hander giving up by the Penguins.
Fowler added a power-play goal when he flipped the puck past Jarry's blocker to make it 4-0 with 3.4 seconds left in the second. Jakob Silfverberg got an assist for his 100th NHL point.
NOTES: Pittsburgh RW Carter Rowney played after missing Friday's practice because of illness. ... Pittsburgh D Ian Cole played after being healthy scratch the previous game, with D Matt Hunwick scratched. ... Anaheim C Ryan Kesler (hip surgery) is practicing in a non-contact capacity. ... Pittsburgh D Brian Dumoulin played his 200th NHL game.