Duck season! Return of Letang, Murray sparks Penguins romp

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif.

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan ranks Kris Letang as one of the top three defensemen in the NHL.

Letang justified that lofty praise in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury, scoring a power-play goal and adding an assist as the Penguins defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Matt Murray stopped 32 shots in his season debut after breaking his hand during the World Cup of Hockey, while Patrick Hornqvist, Bryan Rust, Matt Cullen and Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins.

Letang scored 1:27 into the third period for his first goal of the season, flashing offensive skills comparable to that of the Penguins’ front-line stars. Taking a pass from Justin Schultz, Letang unleashed a quick wrist shot past a bewildered John Gibson.

Letang also had a backhanded shot that was deflected up and off the crossbar by Nick Bonino before Rust used his positioning in the crease to clean it up, extending the Penguins’ lead to 3-1 late in the third period.

“He’s that impactful on the game,” Sullivan said of Letang. “He helps you get out of your own zone, he joins the rush, he makes plays off the rush. When he is in our lineup I think we’re obviously a much better team at both ends of the rink.”

Gibson made 29 saves, stopping a penalty shot by Scott Wilson in the third period after being bowled over by the Penguins forward. Gibson was replaced by Jonathan Bernier midway through the third period.

The Ducks have been outscored 9-1 in their last two home games, Hornqvist adding the final goal midway through the third period.

“You don’t want to dwell on it too much, it’s one hockey game, but the way we executed and some of the things we did out there were just out of character,” said Cam Fowler, who scored the Ducks’ lone goal. “We defended the whole time, gave them too much momentum and they were able to feed off it. They were able to do whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted to.”

Malkin put the Penguins ahead 7:41 into the first period, scoring his sixth goal of the season. Chris Kunitz intercepted a misplayed pass from Corey Perry to Kevin Bieksa at the blue line. Phil Kessel then found Malkin in the far circle winding up for the one-timer well before the puck left the tape on Kessel’s stick.

Malkin, Kessel and Sidney Crosby all extended their points streaks to four games.