ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Kris Letang and Matt Murray picked up right where they left off.
So did the Penguins, in a way, although that hardly mattered by the end of their most lopsided win of this season.
After taking another stick penalty and allowing a power-play goal, the Penguins kicked their game into overdrive and sped past the Anaheim Ducks, 5-1, Wednesday night at Honda Center.
The win, the Penguins' most complete performance of the season, raised their record to 7-2-1 and helped them sweep the season series against the Ducks (4-5-2). The Penguins now have won seven of their past eight meetings against Anaheim.
Evgeni Malkin, Matt Cullen, Bryan Rust, Letang and Patric Hornqvist scored to help Murray (32 saves) earn the win in his first action since raising the Stanley Cup June 12 in San Jose, Calif.
Murray's start to the season was delayed after his right thumb was broken Sept. 19 at the World Cup of Hockey.
Flashing his familiar poise in net, Murray won his eighth consecutive regular-season start. His only hiccup was a power-play goal allowed through traffic.
Letang got his goal early in the third period with the outcome mostly decided, a power-play tally at 1:27 after he smoothly redirected a Justin Schultz attempt from in close.
That goal was surely appreciated. It gave the Penguins power-play tallies in four consecutive games. But the bigger takeaway was Letang's return to his fine form after a five-game absence.
Letang played 23:20 and helped drive possession for much of the game, finishing with six shots on goal.
This one started out following a familiar script when Chris Kunitz was called for slashing and Cam Fowler fired a long shot past Murray through traffic.
Only this time, the Penguins rallied in the second period _ their calling card under coach Mike Sullivan last season but an Achilles' heel so far in 2016-17.
They entered this game getting outscored, 12-6, in the middle session, but had outshot the Ducks, 14-2, Wednesday by the 9:39 mark.
With the Penguins' second-period stranglehold in full effect, Rust cashed in by banging home a rebound of a Nick Bonino backhander for his first of the season at 16:42 of the second, giving the Penguins a 3-1 lead.
Rust had gone without a goal in 15 of his past 16 regular-season games.
Malkin scored the Penguins' first goal _ his sixth of the season and fourth in the past three games _ by crushing a one-time feed from Kessel at 7:41 of the first.
Malkin later continued one of his season-long trends, when he took two penalties, interference and roughing, in the final minute of the second period. He now has been called for nine minor penalties this season, tops on the team. All of them have come in the final minute of the second period or later.
Cullen, celebrating his 40th birthday, received a spinning, backhand pass from Tom Sestito and beat Whitehall native John Gibson with a powerful shot on the blocker side to make it 2-0 at 10:24 of the first.
The goal gave Cullen points in seven of his first 10 games of the season, while Sestito, inserted into the lineup in place of Tom Kuhnhackl, notched his first point of the season.
Anaheim challenged the goal call, believing it was offside, but it was deemed inconclusive and the goal stood.
Fowler's goal came 61 seconds into the penalty on Kunitz, and it followed a series of failed clearing attempts, one of the Penguins' most consistent issues on the penalty-kill.
It's the fifth consecutive game the Penguins have allowed a power-play goal. But concern over that was dwarfed when the Penguins pressed hard in the second period to get it back and then surged for three in the third.
