LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists in the first period, Evgeni Malkin scored in the opening minute, and the Pittsburgh Penguins chased Jonathan Quick in a 4-1 victory over the struggling Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Chris Kunitz and Tanner Glass both scored in their second straight game for the Penguins, who opened a two-game West Coast road trip with the franchise’s first regulation victory at Staples Center.
Jeff Zatkoff made 30 saves in the Eastern Conference leaders’ fourth win in five games.
Anze Kopitar scored his third goal in five games for the Kings, but those are the only goals scored in the last nine days by the Kings, who have lost seven of eight.
The Kings had played their last eight games away from Staples Center, including last weekend’s “home” game at Dodger Stadium. They’ve got a four-game homestand heading into the Olympic break, but still haven’t solved their scoring woes.
Kunitz scored his career-high 27th goal and Jokinen added his 16th on the NHL’s best power play in the first period.
DUCKS 5, FLYERS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Ryan Getzlaf scored the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the first period and Anaheim also got goals from Corey Perry, Patrick Maroon and Daniel Winnik.
Saku Koivu added an empty-net goal and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, helping the Ducks improve their NHL-leading record to 40-11-5 and their home mark to 22-2-2. They have won 22 of their last 26 games.
Winnik gave the Ducks a 4-2 lead with a short-handed goal, the ninth allowed this season by the Flyers - tying Edmonton for the league lead.
Koivu broke up a pass in the Ducks’ zone and went off on a 2-on-1 break with Winnik, who beat Steve Mason to the glove side with 7:34 remaining while teammate Hampus Lindholm was off for high-sticking Claude Giroux.
Vincent Lecavalier, Matt Read and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers, and Mason stopped 23 shots.
AVALANCHE 5, WILD 4
DENVER (AP) - Semyon Varlamov had 35 saves and John Mitchell had a goal and an assist, leading the Avalanche to the win.
Matt Duchene had two assists for Colorado. Ryan O’Reilly, Paul Stastny, Nathan MacKinnon and Maxime Talbot also scored.
It was quite a day for the 25-year-old Varlamov, who also finalized a five-year contract extension with Colorado that runs through the 2018-19 season.
The Avalanche won the season series with the Wild 4-0-1 and moved nine points ahead of them in the Central Division. Colorado has a firm grasp on third place and the final automatic playoff seed in the division.
Zach Parise had two goals and two assists and Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which went 9-4-1 in January to get into the thick of the postseason race.
MAPLE LEAFS 6, PANTHERS 3
TORONTO (AP) - Nazem Kadri had three assists, including his 100th career point, and the Maple Leafs earned their fifth consecutive home victory.
James van Riemsdyk set a career high with his 22nd goal for Toronto, which scored five straight goals after falling behind 2-0 in the first. Joffrey Lupul, Nikolai Kulemin and Tyler Bozak each had a third-period score.
Toronto (28-21-6) has won eight of 10 overall. It was coming off a 3-2 win against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.
Nick Bjugstad and Sean Bergenheim scored in the first for Florida (21-25-7), and Dmitry Kulikov had a third-period goal. Scott Clemmensen made 26 saves.
Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 35 saves, shaking off a slow start.
CANADIENS 4, BRUINS 1
BOSTON (AP) - Peter Budaj stopped 34 shots and Montreal ended Boston’s recent scoring binge.
The Canadiens won their second game in three nights after losing four in a row. They also stopped a four-game winning streak for the Bruins, who had 21 goals in that stretch.
Alexei Emelin and Max Pacioretty scored before Dougie Hamilton’s goal cut Montreal’s lead to 2-1 after one period. Brian Gionta made it 3-1 at 11:54 of the second, ending goalie Tuukka Rask’s night. He was replaced by Chad Johnson, who allowed the first shot he faced, by Daniel Briere, to get past him less than two minutes later.
The Bruins had scored six goals in each of their previous three games.
DEVILS 3, STARS 2, OT
DALLAS (AP) - Patrik Elias scored a power-play goal 40 seconds into overtime to give New Jersey the win.
The Stars had tied the score on Tyler Seguin’s goal with 52 seconds remaining in regulation.
Dainius Zubrus scored in the first period and Travis Zajac added a goal in the second to give New Jersey a 2-0 lead.
Dallas’ Jamie Benn scored on a backhand at 10:52 of the second.
The Devils, allowing the fewest shots per game of any NHL team, held Dallas to a season-low 16 shots. Cory Schneider made 14 saves for his second victory over the Stars this season.
Kari Lehtonen had 21 stops for Dallas.
BLUE JACKETS 5, CAPITALS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ryan Johansen scored twice, helping Columbus end a three-game slide.
Derek MacKenzie, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who had two goals in each of their previous three games. Jack Johnson and Fedor Tyutin each had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Joel Ward had a short-handed goal and Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals, who had won two in a row after dropping seven straight.
Each team was 0 for 7 on the power play.
SENATORS 5, LIGHTNING 3
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Marc Methot, Erik Karlsson, Zack Smith, Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan scored as Ottawa jumped to a four-goal lead and held on for the win.
Craig Anderson stopped 35 shots for the Senators.
Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, who have lost two straight. Anders Lindback had 23 saves after replacing an injured Ben Bishop.
Bishop, who was playing his first game in Ottawa since being traded to the Lightning last April, came way out of his net to play the puck two minutes into the first and ended up getting kicked in the head by teammate Nikita Kucherov. Bishop lay on the ice motionless, silencing the 19,757 on hand, before he was able to leave the ice on his own.
The Lightning also lost leading scorer Valterri Filpulla early in the second. Filpulla returned briefly, but then left the game with a lower body injury.
SABRES 3, COYOTES 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Zemgus Girgensons scored a short-handed goal in the third period and had an assist, and the road-weary Sabres knocked off the Coyotes.
The Sabres had plenty of energy in their third game in four nights, scoring the first goal and rallying from a 2-1 deficit in the third period. Tyler Ennis and Steve Ott scored, and Girgensons put Buffalo ahead with his goal early in the third.
Ryan Miller made some tough stops after giving up two quick goals in the second period, finishing with 38 saves in Buffalo’s second win in 10 games.
Phoenix followed one of its best games of the season with a shaky performance.
Antoine Vermette scored his fifth goal in three games to extend his point streak to six games, and David Moss scored his first goal in 17 games for the Coyotes.
FLAMES 4, SHARKS 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Mark Giordano scored the winning goal and Karri Ramo made 27 saves as Calgary extended its winning streak to four games.
Lee Stempniak and rookie Sean Monahan also scored for the Flames, and Jiri Hudler added an empty-netter.
Eriah Hayes scored his first NHL goal for San Jose.
The Flames have their longest winning streak since reeling off five straight in March 2012, and are 4-0-0 on a five-game homestand.
The Sharks have lost three straight and scored only one goal in the skid.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.