Game Recap: Penguins 4, Wild 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Ryan Shea and Bryan Rust each had a goal and an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-1 at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday.

Kris Letang had two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the Penguins (8-2-2), who scored four consecutive goals and extended their point streak to eight games (6-0-2).

“I thought the third period was our best,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “I thought the second period, we started to get things going. I thought it was starting to be more in line with how we wanted to play in the second and then I thought we were really happy with the third.”

Kirill Kaprizov scored, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild (3-6-3), who have lost five in a row (0-3-2) and eight of nine (1-5-3).

“It's not about being fragile, it's about doing the right things,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “It's about having some toughness to you and digging in. … We can talk about being fragile, but why don't we get a little bit tougher? Why don't we get a little bit harder and more consistent? And if you do that, then you're going to give yourself a chance to win. But fragile is different when it comes down to skating and puck battles and assignments, when we know we have to do them. That's different. There's no reason to be fragile on that. You need to dig in."

Kaprizov gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 10:16 of the first period, tapping in Marcus Johansson’s backdoor feed at the left post.

It was the first time in six games that Minnesota scored first.

Shea tied it 1-1 at 2:18 of the second period when he one-timed Tommy Novak’s pass at the top of the left circle.

Gustavsson kept it tied at 14:40 by denying Connor Dewar on a short-handed breakaway.

Rust put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1 at 6:29 of the third. He scored at the right post off Shea’s high-to-low pass.

“We’re taking each day as it comes,” Rust said. “I don’t think we’re try to get too far ahead of ourselves and I think we’re having a lot of fun with it. The good and the bad. Trying to learn from the bad, learn from the good too. I think we’re just trying to have as much fun as possible.”

Kindel then scored 1:01 later to make it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:30. He buried a rebound in front after Gustavsson got his right pad on Rust’s shot from a sharp angle.

Anthony Mantha scored into an empty net at 17:18 for the 4-1 final.

“I think it’s a lot of looking for someone else to do it,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “Some lines, I think there’s just a lot of disconnect. For whatever reason, it’s just not -- we talk about boring hockey, we’re not even playing that style that we used to. It’s frustrating in that sense. We’ve got to be better.”

NOTES: Pittsburgh won 32 of 51 face-offs (63 percent). … Johansson and Minnesota forward Marco Rossi each had an assist to extend his point streak to four games. Johansson has five points (four goals, one assist) during his streak, and Rossi has six points (one goal, five assists) during his run.