Penguins push past sliding Canucks, win fourth in row

PITTSBURGH -- Tristan Jarry made 36 saves to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth straight win, 4-1 against the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.

Jarry has allowed two goals on 121 shots since Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo scored against him at 8:54 of the second period in a 2-1 loss Nov. 16. He has two shutouts in four starts since that loss.
"I thought Tristan was terrific again tonight," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "We gave up a fair amount of high-quality chances. We got a fair amount ourselves, but I thought we gave up a fair amount, more than we prefer. Tristan was there to make a lot of timely saves for us.
"He's seeing it right now. He looks really comfortable in the net. His rebound control is really good. His handles have been more decisive. … He's playing extremely well for us. That's one of the reasons why we've kind of rode him here over the last stretch of games."
Brock McGinn had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (9-6-4), and Bryan Rust, Evan Rodrigues and Zach Aston-Reese scored in the second period.
Bo Horvat scored to end his seven-game point drought, and Thatcher Demko made 33 saves for the Canucks (6-12-2), who have been outscored 33-14 while losing seven of their past eight.
"Guys are worried about how to get their game going, find their game," Vancouver coach Travis Green said. "I thought we were slow tonight getting out of the gate. … When you're not playing well, you look a little slow. I thought, overall, we struggled with their footspeed a little bit tonight."

Rust put the Penguins ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal 49 seconds into the second. After taking a pass from Kris Letang, Rust dropped to one knee in the left face-off circle for a one-timer to the blocker side.
The first-line right wing hadn't scored in 10 games since he got an empty-net goal in a 6-2 season-opening win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 12.
"I've been there before," Rust said. "I've gone through streaks where I haven't produced, I haven't played well. You've got to just kind of stick with the process. You almost have to simplify. You just have to keep working. I think I tried to do that. I was rewarded with a goal tonight."
Rodrigues made it 2-0 with his 100th NHL point at 7:29. Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes sent a pass above the crease to the opposite wall, where Rodrigues collected it for a snap shot from the left circle.
Aston-Reese scored his first goal of the season, extending the lead to 3-0 at 15:20. He took a return pass from McGinn on a 2-on-1 and scored on a wrist shot from the slot.
"I think we're building," Aston-Reese said. "That third period in [a 3-1 win at the Winnipeg Jets on Monday], we were good from the first shift on. We were able to build on it tonight. ... For the most part we're trending in the right direction."
Horvat cut it to 3-1 by driving to the net around Letang for a backhand at 14:52 of the third period. He hadn't scored a point since he had two goals and an assist in a 6-3 win against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 7.
The goal ended a drought of 147:57 for the Canucks since Conor Garland scored at 6:54 of the second period in a 3-2 win against the Jets on Friday.
"We've shown bits and pieces throughout the year, lots of stretches, that we're a good hockey team," Horvat said. "We were doing a lot of good things earlier on [this season]. I don't know if we're just pressing too hard to score or just trying to play out of our element to try to turn things around."
McGinn scored an empty-net goal for the 4-1 final with 1:00 remaining.
NOTES: Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn had one assist, one shot on goal, three hits and two blocked in 14:00 of ice time in his return from missing eight games with a lower-body injury. … Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel had the secondary assist on Rust's goal to extend his point streak to seven games (eight points; five goals, three assists). He has scored at least one point in each of his nine games against Vancouver (15 points; nine goals, six assists). ... Rodrigues has 41 goals and 59 assists in 253 games.