Penguins Respond with Win over Columbus After Tough Road Trip

The Penguins didn’t feel good coming out of their tough road trip out west, but they had to find a way to regroup and reinvest for Tuesday’s game against Columbus. They did just that, battling for a 5-3 win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Jesse Puljujarvi, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Jeff Carter, and Reilly Smith all scored for Pittsburgh, while Tristan Jarry made 33 saves.

"We had a tough road trip, to say the least. I think just getting two points here, hopefully it motivates our group, and hopefully we're stronger from it and can put some wins together,” the Penguins netminder said.

The Penguins made some adjustments to their lineup going in, partly out of necessity ... as Noel Acciari is being evaluated for an upper-body injury and did not play. Neither did Jansen Harkins, who had left Pittsburgh’s last game on Sunday in Edmonton with an upper-body injury ... and partly because Mike Sullivan said the coaching staff is trying some different things to see if they can’t get some traction.

* Lars Eller moved from third-line center to left wing on Sidney Crosby’s line. Sullivan: “Lars is a cerebral player, I think he has the ability to play in the top-six, he’s good on both sides of the puck. He was fine on the wing.”

* Drew O’Connor slotted into the spot Eller vacated (though he did not return to the game for the third period after being diagnosed with a concussion). Sullivan: “OC has played a lot at the center ice position in Wilkes-Barre at the American level and a little bit with us. We know he’s capable. I thought he did a good job in the time we had him there for the first two periods.”

* Puljujarvi got back in after being scratched in five of the last seven games.

* And Joona Koppanen centered the fourth line for his fourth game as a Penguin after being signed in the offseason.

“We knew it was a little bit of a hard spot for us, we’re a little bit banged up. It was a hard road trip, but we knew we just needed to get rolling,” said Puljujarvi, who opened the scoring at the 13:33 mark of the first period with his first as a Penguin. Malkin then added to the lead late in the frame for his second goal in as many games.

Columbus was coming off a 6-3 win over Vegas the night before, so while the Penguins took advantage in the opening 20 minutes – “we did a good job with a hot start and kept on holding on to pucks and trying to create plays in the offensive zone,” Smith said – the Blue Jackets started to find their legs in the second.

They got a pair of quick goals to tie it up, but from there on out, the Penguins did a good job of responding to the adversities in the game.

“I think we probably still gave up too many odd-man rushes and exchanged too many chances. But these games have gone the opposite way over the last a little bit, so, it was nice to finally come up with a win, and deservedly so,” Smith said. “I think we were a better team for a lot of the night.”

They went back in front when Rakell, forechecking on Erik Gudbranson, took his clearing attempt off the skate – with the puck banking in. Then, in the third period, after Rakell’s stick broke during a power play and Jack Roslovic scored a shorthanded goal, Carter got it back just 22 seconds later.

After becoming the 10^th player from his 2009 NHL Draft class to record 500 points with his assist on Malkin’s goal, and then getting another helper on Carter’s tally, Smith found the back of the net himself.

“It kind of means a lot, to be honest,” Smith said of starting his three-point night with the milestone. “Would have been happy with one growing up. So, the time goes by fast, and you just try to enjoy every moment. It's pretty special to get an assist on Geno's goal for 500 as well.”

The Penguins host the Washington Capitals on Thursday night ahead of Friday’s NHL trade deadline. It’s always a difficult time of year with a lot of unknowns, and as Sullivan said, “obviously, there’s a lot of noise around the team right now, probably more so than there’s been in a lot of years.”

So, as Jarry said, “It's just about playing for each other and playing hard every night. That's all we could do at this point, is play hard every night and give it our best, and we have to try and string some wins together.”