PITTSBURGH (AP) Phil Kessel’s power-play goal in the second period stood as the winner in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in their NHL match on Saturday night.
Ian Cole and Conor Sheary also scored for the Penguins, who have won four straight home games against Anaheim and are 6-1 in their last seven games overall against the Ducks. Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves.
Chris Kunitz got his 200th assist with the Penguins in his 500th game with the team. Kunitz, who was acquired from Anaheim in 2009, became the 18th player and fifth active to play 500 games with Pittsburgh.
Corey Perry scored his first of the season and 13th goal in 14 games against Pittsburgh. Cam Fowler scored on the power play for the Ducks, who haven’t won in Pittsburgh in more than four years.
”We knew it would be a quick game with their speed and the way they like to play,” Perry said. ”I thought we had a great start, but I thought we relaxed a little bit in the first period and they took it to us. We had to start playing catch-up.”
Jonathan Bernier stopped 42 shots in his debut with the Ducks.
In Chicago, Richard Panik scored his first NHL hat trick and Scott Darling was sharp in making 33 saves as Chicago earned its first victory of the season, 5-3 over Nashville.
Nick Schmaltz, one of four rookies in Chicago’s lineup, scored his first NHL goal and Brent Seabrook added a power-play score and an assist as the Blackhawks rebounded from a 3-2 loss at Nashville on Friday. Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith each had two assists.
Colin Wilson, Craig Smith and Viktor Arvidsson scored for the Predators.
In Denver, Joe Colborne scored his first NHL hat trick and Colorado withstood a 6-on-4 opportunity over the final 46 seconds to hold off Dallas 6-5.
Trailing 2-0 early, Colborne scored three of Colorado’s next five goals to build a 5-2 lead. Carl Soderberg and Nathan MacKinnon also scored during the stretch, and Tyson Barrie added an insurance goal in the third period to kick off the Jared Bednar Era in winning fashion. Bednar took over for Patrick Roy after the Hall of Fame goaltender-turned-coach surprisingly stepped away two months ago.
In other games, Washington won 2-1 at home against the New York Islanders, San Jose won 3-2 at Columbus, St. Louis won 3-2 at home against the New York Rangers, Florida beat the visiting Detroit 4-1, Toronto won 4-1 at home to Boston, Tampa Bay beat visiting New Jersey 3-2, Minnesota won 4-3 at home to Winnipeg, Arizona won 4-3 in overtime against visiting Philadelphia, Ottawa won 4-3 at home to Montreal, and Vancouver beat the visiting Calgary 2-1 in a shootout.
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