The Pittsburgh Penguins came into Tuesday night’s matchup on a four-game losing streak and would be without their three best players in injured centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was given then night off.
The Winnipeg Jets, on the other hand, came into town toting a five game winning streak. It was the Penguins, however that jumped out to an early lead, and when the Jets came back, the Pens kept on scoring en route to a 5-2 victory at Consol Energy Center.
A pair of Penguins returning from injuries, forward Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Kris Letang, provided much of the scoring punch for the Penguins.
Letang, in particular, was outstanding, assisting on all five Penguins goals. It was the first time a Penguins defenseman had five points since Sergei Gonchar in 2006. His first assist on the evening was his 200th in the NHL.
“The key thing tonight for Kris, was that he was really skating,” said Penguins head coach Mike Johnston. “When he’s skating like that, he can jump up into the play, and then he can get back, and that’s what he did tonight.”
Hornqvist, returning after missing 11 games with a leg injury, was a terror in the offensive zone, and his strong net-front presence lead to Brandon Sutter’s game-winning power play goal. Hornqvist also added an empty-netter to seal the win.
“After missing a month, you lose a lot of details in your game,” he said. “It’s nice to get the first one out of the way, get the big win, and hopefully, I’ll get better every game.”
Without his top two centers in the lineup, Johnston turned to Nick Spaling to center the top line and Spaling rewarded his faith with a first-period goal assisted by David Perron.
Perron later added a goal of his own on the power play. The Pens were 2-for-3 with the man advantage despite missing their biggest stars.
Thomas Greiss earned his fifth win with the Penguins while making 22 stops. The Penguins defenders were largely able to shut down the Jets attack.
The bottom six did most of the damage for Winnipeg as Chris Thorburn and Adam Lowry each had a goal and an assist and Evander Kane had three assists.
Goaltender Ondej Pavelec continued his long history of poor play against the Penguins, allowing four goals on 29 shots. The Jets franchise hasn’t won in 14 consecutive trips to Pittsburgh.
The Penguins traded center Marcel Goc, who had an assist, after the game to Saint Louis for center Max Lapierre.
The Pens will be right back in action as they travel to Washington for tomorrow night’s nationally-televised game against the Capitals.
Photo credit: NHL
