McTavish, Killorn each scores twice, Ducks defeat Penguins to end 4-game skid

ANAHEIM -- Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn each scored two goals for the Anaheim Ducks in a 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Honda Center on Thursday.

Frank Vatrano also scored, and Troy Terry and Jacob Trouba each had two assists for the Ducks (19-23-6), who had lost four straight (0-3-1). John Gibson made 31 saves.

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

Michael Bunting scored, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves for the Penguins (20-22-8), who are 3-6-3 in their past 12 games.

Pittsburgh was coming off a 5-1 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.

"I just didn't think we had the same intentions that we did in the game prior," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "I just didn't think we played with the same conviction."

The Ducks gave up the first seven shots on goal before recording their first at 7:58 of the first period.

"We looked a little bit overwhelmed the first five minutes," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "They came out, they were flying. It's funny, when you're coaching a game and a team is playing at that speed, even from the bench, you're like, 'Whoa, this is going to be a long night.' It's hard to play at that pace and that intensity for 60 minutes."

Nedeljkovic made back-to-back saves on Trouba and Robby Fabbri but slid out of the crease on the second save, allowing McTavish to score into an open net for a 1-0 lead at 9:28.

"I think it was a slow start, even with the chances in the first," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said.

Killorn pushed it to 2-0 with 59 seconds left in the first period. He beat Penguins defenseman P.O. Joseph and Marcus Pettersson to a loose puck and skated in alone before scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle.

"For whatever reason, the first period wasn't the type of game that we wanted to play," Sullivan said. "I thought we responded in the second period. I thought we had a pretty good second period, but obviously the first 20 wasn't good enough."

Bunting cut it to 2-1 at 5:32 of the second period with a power-play goal, finishing a cross-crease pass from Bryan Rust below the right circle with a one-timer.

Gibson, a Pittsburgh native, went post to post to make a left-pad save on Erik Karlsson at 17:45 and preserve the one-goal lead heading into the third.

"He was terrific all night," Sullivan said of Gibson. "He made some huge saves at key times."

McTavish made it 3-1 at 2:06 of the third. He found the puck in front after Brian Dumoulin’s dump in caromed back off the end boards and waited out Nedeljkovic before sliding the puck across the goal line.

"We're starting to build chemistry within these lines and guys are getting comfortable with each other," Killorn said.

Vatrano beat the Penguins down the ice and scored off a centering pass from Ryan Strome to make it 4-1 at 6:52.

Killorn scored an empty-net goal 2:00 left for the 5-1 final.

"The best teams in the League are the ones that bring it every single night," Nedeljkovic said. "You have to earn your two points every single night and it's not always going to go your way. You play a great game and just get some unfortunate bounces, but for the most part things are going to even out and they're going to fall in your favor if you keep bringing it."

NOTES: Rust left late in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Sullivan did not have an update following the game. ... Pittsburgh was 8-2-0 in their previous 10 games against Anaheim. ... The Penguins went 1-for-3 on the power play and are 5-for-10 through the first four games of the seven-game road trip. ... The Ducks are 18-0-2 when scoring three goals this season. ... Trouba also blocked two shots; he is tied with Ian Cole of the Utah Hockey Club for the most in the NHL (133).