Toonstruck 1 » PITTSBURGH (AP) —

A big second period ended up being just enough for the Calgary Flames.Michael Frolik had the first of four second-period goals for Calgary Dallas Stars Hoodies Authentic , and the Flames held on to snap a season-long four-game skid with a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.Frolik, Austin Czarnik, Travis Hamonic and Sam Bennett scored during a mid-game 17-minute span for Calgary, which held off a late Pittsburgh charge that included a pair of third-period power-play goals by Evgeni Malkin.“They’re a good team and they had a good pushback there at the end,” said Bennett, whose goal with 1:29 left in the second period ended up being decisive. “We got on our heels a little bit, but in the end, we gutted it out and that’s a huge win for our team after not the best showing in the last couple games.”Calgary got its only win on a four-game, eight-day trip and avenged a 9-1 loss to Pittsburgh in October during the teams’ other meeting this season.Despite numerous chances playing 6-on-5 over the game’s final 90 seconds, the Penguins couldn’t get the equalizer.Malkin had three points after serving a one-game suspension for swinging his stick at Philadelphia’s Michael Raffl.“I think we fought hard,” Malkin said. “Just (wish) we would have played better 5-on-5.”Mike Smith made 34 saves to win for the first time since Jan. 13 for Calgary, which entered Saturday tied for the best record in the Western Conference.The Flames never trailed after Andrew Mangiapane opened the scoring 7:06 into the game.Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for the Penguins, who welcomed back defenseman Justin Schultz from a 53-game absence because of a fractured left leg. Schultz assisted on Jake Guentzel’s goal that tied the game at 1 late in the first period.But the Penguins allowed at least five goals for the seventh time over their past 17 games and are 7-9-1 in that stretch. They have dropped to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They entered Saturday one point clear of ninth-place Carolina.Malkin nearly pulled Pittsburgh back from a 5-2 deficit with goals at 5:42 and 14:41 of the third period. Each of those was assisted by Crosby Dallas Stars Hats Authentic , but Crosby could not convert two prime scoring chances in the final minute.“You know it’s coming, right?” Flames coach Bill Peters said of the Penguins’ late surge. “We made it a little harder than we would’ve liked by putting them on the power play.”Before he was relieved by Casey DeSmith for the start of the third period, the Penguins’ Matt Murray allowed five goals on 24 shots, though his performance was at least in part attributable to shoddy defense and bad luck.The puck on the goal credited to Mangiapane — the second of his career — hit at least three sticks after it was shot from the left point by Oliver Kylington.The goal that gave the Flames the lead for good 1:29 into the second period was a loose puck swatted in when no Penguins player picked up Frolik after Murray had stopped Matthew Tkachuk.Ninety-three seconds after that, Czarnik’s third of the season was a shot from the top of the left circle that deflected off the stick of a Penguins defender. And Hamonic’s goal from the right-wing boards with 3:58 left in the second hit Guentzel’s stick on the way in.Bennett’s goal 2½ minutes later gave Calgary five goals in a game for the 18th time this season. The Flames moved into second in the NHL in goals.“Obviously, there’s stuff you still want to clean up but everything’s moving back to where it was when we were buzzing,” Smith said. “That’s a good team there. … We wanted to finish this road trip off on a right note here and get two points tonight.”NOTES: Flames C Derek Ryan had three assists, the second three-point game among the 210 he’s played in the NHL. … Penguins RW Phil Kessel had two assists, the first of which (on Crosby’s goal) accounted for his 800th career point. Kessel is the 17th U.S.-born player to reach that milestone. … Crosby has eight points over his past four games.UP NEXTFlames: Calgary will return to the Scotiabank Saddledome for the first time in 11 days when it hosts the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.Penguins: The Penguins play home games on consecutive days for the second of three times all season, hosting the New York Rangers on Sunday. ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle doesn’t know what’s behind the confluence of streaks bolstering the Ducks‘ playoff chances. Right now, he’s just trying to make it last.John Gibson made 36 saves for his 14th career shutout, Rickard Rakell scored for the fourth straight game and the Ducks extended their home point streak to nine games with a 4-0 win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.The Ducks are 7-0-2 in their last nine home games and 7-1-1 in their last nine overall. Gibson has won a career-best six consecutive starts Custom Dallas Stars Jerseys , and Rakell has six goals in his last four games.All that has pushed Anaheim up to second in the Pacific Division, moving one point ahead of San Jose after picking up a third straight win overall.”If I knew that answer I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing and be making a lot more money if I could figure that out and have an explanation for that, but it just seems that talented athletes find ways to get on hot streaks and they continue to roll,” Carlyle said. ”It’s no different than a golfer gets on a hot streak, gets in a groove, a pitcher gets in a groove. Things seem to go their way.”Adam Henrique, Hampus Lindholm and Nick Ritchie also scored for the Ducks. Ryan Getzlaf and Josh Manson each had two assists.”I think we’re just playing, like we have the last few years,” Gibson said. ”It’s been a different year as far as injuries and personnel and whatnot, but we’re all here now and we want to make the most of it.”The Ducks went up 1-0 1:24 into the game on Henrique’s 20th goal. With Tom Wilson in the penalty box for interference, Henrique scored on a wrist shot from the slot.Rakell and Getzlaf had assists on the Ducks’ fifth power-play goal in their last eight games.The Capitals have allowed power-play goals in five of their last seven games, having killed 72.7 percent (16 of 22) of penalties in those games.Lindholm doubled the lead to 2-0 at 13:15. He fired a shot from the blue line that goalie Braden Holtby couldn’t see through traffic for his 10th goal, tying his career high set in 2015-16.”We didn’t help ourselves a whole lot starting that way www.officialredwings.com , but it wasn’t just that,” Capitals center Lars Eller said. ”It was execution of passes, losing battles along the wall, being second on puck. Just being a split-second behind all the time. We’re not really a slow team, but in the first we looked slow because we were always chasing.”While the Ducks are surging, the Capitals are trying to put together some consistent play. Holtby was pulled early in the second period after giving up three goals on nine shots. Philipp Grubauer made eight saves in relief for the Capitals, who have lost three straight road games.Washington failed to put together three straight wins, something it hasn’t done since notching five in a row Dec. 28-Jan. 9.Rakell made it 3-0 at 5:27 in the second period. He beat Holtby with a powerful wrist shot from the left circle, prompting Capitals coach Barry Trotz to turn to Grubauer. Holtby has been pulled from four of his 11 starts since the beginning of February.”Everybody goes through some dry spells, and he’s having one right now,” Trotz said.Ritchie picked up the empty-netter with 1:26 remaining.NOTES: Getzlaf had multiple assists for the third straight game. He has two goals and 10 assists in his last six games. … Manson has a point in three straight games, with one goal and three assists during the streak. … The Ducks have killed 25 straight penalties.UP NEXTCapitals: Visit Los Angeles on Thursday night.Ducks: Visit Nashville on Thursday night.—