Penguins recover after blowing 3-goal lead, defeat Wild

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who recovered after blowing a three-goal lead to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 at PPG Paints Arena on Monday.

Crosby put the Penguins back in front 4-3 with a power-play goal at 6:20 of the third period, chipping in a bouncing puck from the top of the crease.

His goal came 47 seconds after Vinni Lettieri tied it 3-3 for the Wild on a deflection of Jon Merrill's shot.

“Getting the lead, not having to chase the game, that’s an important part,” Crosby said. “It would’ve been nice to put it away a little bit and not allow them to come back. … We’ll just try to keep building here.”

Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each had a goal and an assist, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for the Penguins (14-13-3), who have won three of four but were coming off a 7-0 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t say there were a lot of conversations (after the loss Saturday). There were a couple of candid ones,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re in this thing together, the coaches and the players. There’s a partnership there. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to do our job as a coaching staff to bring some solutions to the table.

“We’re trying to put the players in position to be successful. We’re trying to give them a real good understanding of what Penguins hockey looks like. When we play it, we can be a real competitive team.”

Ryan Hartmanand Jake Middleton scored for the Wild (12-13-4), who had won three straight. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves.

“There are games and times where you have to be able to come from behind,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought we clawed our way back into the game. … There are games where they're tied, sometimes you have a lead, sometimes you've got to come from behind. I thought there were a lot of positives from that.”

Reilly Smith put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 7:39 of the first period with a backhand after Valtteri Puustinen poked the puck away from Minnesota defenseman Alex Goligoski behind the net.

Guentzel made it 2-0 with a power-play goal when he deflected a slap shot from Erik Karlsson 36 seconds into the second period.

Malkin extended the lead to 3-0 at 3:34 with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1.

“I don't know why we came out so weak today,” Gustavsson said. “Didn't help when they got some power plays, too. You have to restart after those ones. We were always on the back foot today."

Hartman cut it to 3-1 at 15:06. Brock Faber sent a pass that hit off the skate of Penguins defenseman John Ludvig and found Hartman for a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

Middleton made it 3-2 at 17:30 of the second on a rebound to the right of Nedeljkovic.

"It's the first time we had to chase in a while, but those things happen,” Hartman said. “We were able to tie it up. So, liked the way we responded."

NOTES: Crosby has 1,535 career points (568 goals, 967 assists), passing Mark Recchi (1,533 points; 577 goals, 956 assists) for 13th in NHL history. ... Minnesota forward Mats Zuccarello did not play and is day to day with an upper-body injury. He has not been ruled out for the second half of a back-to-back against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. … Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury backed up Gustavsson in what was possibly his last game in Pittsburgh. ... Penguins forward Rickard Rakell had two shots on goal in 14:45 of ice time in his return after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury.