Penguins 8, Jets 5
Playing in his 400th NHL game, All-Star Evgeni Malkin collected a goal and four assists to lead the way as the host Pittsburgh Penguins posted an 8-5 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon.
Chris Kunitz added four points, defenseman Kris Letang chipped in three and Jordan Staal and James Neal each picked up a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who had totaled six goals in dropping three of their previous four.
Ondrej Pavelec entered Saturday having allowed a total of nine goals in winning four of his last five starts. Against Pittsburgh, Pavelec became the first goaltender in the NHL to allow eight goals in a game this season.
The Jets grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first but the Penguins quickly responded, tying it on first-period tallies by Dustin Jeffrey and Neal.
Kunitz and Letang made it 4-2 in the first part of the second period and Malkin’s 30th tally pushed the advantage to 5-3 with 2:52 left in the session.
Winnipeg would cut it to 5-4 on defenseman Dustin Byfuglien’s tally at the 4:35 mark, but Pittsburgh responded just 19 seconds later as Richard Park crashed the net for his 100th career goal.
Staal, who had missed the previous 15 games with a knee injury, scored his 16th goal and Letang capped the outburst with a power-play tally.