Penguins win 10th straight, Rust scores three points to help top Flyers

PHILADELPHIA --The Pittsburgh Penguins won their 10th consecutive game, 6-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

Bryan Rust had two goals and an assist, Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Kris Letang had three assists for Pittsburgh (20-8-5). Tristan Jarry made 18 saves.
The Penguins won for the second straight night after a 5-3 win at home against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Their winning streak is the longest in the NHL since the Vegas Golden Knights won 10 straight April 9-28.
"I thought last night against St. Louis was an emotional game," Letang said. "It was a big game that we were able to climb back in and win. And knowing we were coming in here on a back-to-back with a team that was going to give it their all with all the injuries they have, we had to be ready and I thought we did a pretty good job right from the start trying to get that game on our side."

Cam Atkinson and Oskar Lindblom scored for Philadelphia (13-15-6), which lost its fourth straight game (0-3-1). Carter Hart made 26 saves.
Philadelphia played without two of its top three scorers, forwards Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny, and two of its top four defensemen, Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim, who all in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"I think guys have got to look in the mirror a little bit and find ways to dig deeper and have a little more fight in their game," Atkinson said.
Rust scored a power-play goal at 12:21 of the first period and from the slot at 14:55 to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. He has scored seven goals in three games since missing 11 because of a lower-body injury.
"He's playing at a high pace right now," Guentzel said. "Just fun to watch him and be part of it. When he's shooting like that and playing with speed he's one of the better players in this league."
Guentzel scored from the right side of the crease at 16:16 to make it 3-0. Video review confirmed the puck completely crossed the goal line.
The line of Rust (seven goals, four assists), Guentzel (three goals, three assists) and Sidney Crosby (one goal, five assists) has combined for 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in the past three games. Crosby had two assists Thursday.
"When they play the game the right way they have such good offensive instincts and they have good chemistry," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "They've played together a fair amount, they know one another's tendencies and they're competitive guys. They're willing to play in traffic, they play with a lot of courage. They're just really good players. And when they play the right way like they are right now, they set the bar for our team and it drives our team. The rest of the group follows their lead."

Atkinson cut it to 3-1 at 8:10 of the second period when he finished a 2-on-1 rush with Joel Farabee.
Evan Rodrigues pushed the lead to 4-1 at 8:50 of the third, Guentzel scored at 10:20 to make it 5-1, and Brian Boyle's shorthanded goal increased the lead to 6-1 at 11:51.
Lindblom made it 6-2 at 13:00.
"We've got to find ways to step up," Hart said. "That wasn't the case tonight. We've got to get back to practice, work on some details and get healthy."
NOTES: Rodrigues has scored seven points (five goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak. He has scored an NHL career-high 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 33 games; he scored 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 74 games with the Buffalo Sabres in 2018-19. ... Jarry is 7-0-0 with a 1.70 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in his past seven games. ... Crosby has scored 1,349 points (491 goals, 858 assists), tied with Mats Sundin for 29th in NHL history. ... Guentzel has scored at least one point in 16 straight games (25 points; 15 goals, 10 assists) since last being held without one Nov. 11. He missed five games with an upper-body injury from Dec. 10-19 before returning Sunday. He is the fourth player in the past 30 years to score at least one point in 13 road games to start a season (Mario Lemieux, 14 games, 1995-96; Steve Yzerman, 14, 1993-94; Sundin, 14, 1992-93). … Letang has 10 assists in his past six games. … Rust has scored multiple goals in three straight games, tied for third in Penguins history. Lemieux scored in five straight and four straight, each in 1988-89. … Flyers forward Derick Brassard had three shots and four hits in 16:40 of ice time after missing 15 of the previous 16 games with a hip injury. ... Philadelphia defenseman Egor Zamula blocked three shots in 19:46 in his season debut after being recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Thursday. It was his third NHL game. ... Atkinson has scored five points (two goals, three assists) during a three-game point streak.