Tristan Jarry and Magnus Hellberg combined on a 32-save shutout after Jarry left with an injury late in the second period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped the Anaheim Ducks’ six-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.
Radim Zohorna scored in the first period and Sidney Crosby added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who avenged Anaheim’s spectacular 4-3 comeback victory in Pittsburgh eight days ago.
“What I loved about our third period is that we competed hard, that we defended well,” Pens coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s a good win for our team, especially to close it out in a low-scoring game against a team that’s beaten a lot of good teams lately.”
Jarry made 21 saves for Pittsburgh before leaving the game with a cut near his right eye. Jarry’s head hit Ducks forward Adam Henrique, who had his back turned to the goalie outside the crease, yet Jarry still inadvertently stopped the puck when Henrique attempted to fire a rebound shot underneath him.
Sullivan said after the game that Jarry was still being evaluated.
“There’s always pressure on this level,” Hellberg said. “I just had to try to come up big for the team. … I’m just really happy we got the win because of the game we had in Pittsburgh when I think they stole a win from us.”
John Gibson made 34 saves against his hometown team for the upstart Ducks, who hadn’t lost since Oct. 22 in their longest winning streak in two years. Anaheim was shut out for the first time this season.
Ducks center Mason McTavish’s seven-game point streak ended. The 20-year-old scored the late tying goal in Pittsburgh last week before adding the winning short-handed goal with 13 seconds to play.
Ducks coach Greg Cronin said he could tell the Penguins spent plenty of practice time last week refining their defensive concepts after blowing their late lead over Anaheim in Pittsburgh.
“It was an awkward game,” Cronin said. “You could feel it. There wasn’t a lot of rhythm to the game. There wasn’t a lot of scoring chances either way. It was like two boxers just jabbing each other.”
Anaheim had five late comebacks during its six-game winning streak, but the Ducks failed to become only the fourth team in NHL history with four consecutive third-period comeback victories.
Zohorna scored his third goal in seven games since rejoining the Penguins this season, getting a lucky deflection off Gibson’s pads and underneath the goalie late in the first period.
Anaheim ramped up its attack in the third period, but repeatedly missed the mark. Moments after Ross Johnston couldn’t collect a rebound in the crease in time to hit an open net, Troy Terry’s deflected wrist shot hit Hellberg’s far post.
McTavish briefly had the puck in the crease with 3:30 left, but couldn’t get it under Hellberg.
Crosby scored his sixth goal of the season with 19.5 seconds left, lofting home a backhand from mid-ice.
“We didn’t have a great first period, but we stuck with it,” Crosby said. “So hopefully we can learn from this and keep going.”
