Aston-Reese has 2 goals and assist, Penguins beat Jets 7-2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Injuries to some key players has forced the Pittsburgh Penguins to play a simpler game, and it’s working out quite well for them.
Zach Aston-Reese, Sam Lafferty and Jake Guentzel each had two goals to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
Dominik Simon also scored and Aston-Reese also had an assist for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots.
“We talk a lot about being hard to play against,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “It starts with your own puck possession, the decisions you make, the line changes, when you change. You put your teammates in good positions because you change at the right time. The tracking on the puck and the back pressure on the puck so you have numbers back.
“For me this is the definition of being hard to play against and it’s a recipe for success, regardless of who’s in your lineup.”
Forwards Nick Bjugstad, Alex Galchenyuk, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are all on Pittsburgh’s injured reserve list but the Penguins improved their record to 4-2-0 with their second win on the road this week.
“We’ve got different guys stepping up and we’ve got guys coming out of the lineup,” Guentzel said. “So it just kind of happens like that and when you lose star power like that you’ve just got to be simple and we’re getting better at it.”
Mathieu Perreault and Mark Scheifele had goals for the Jets, and Laurent Brossoit finished with 21 saves.
Jarry, playing his first game as a starter in three weeks, shook off a lucky goal from Perreault that gave the Jets a 1-0 lead in the first period. Perreault’s centering pass from behind the net bounced off a defender’s stick and in.
“It’s obviously something you can’t control, it’s something that just happens, part of the game, a weird bounce and you just have to get back and focus on what you need to do,” Jarry said.
Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice thought the turning point was a tripping penalty in the first period that gave Pittsburgh it’s second goal, followed just 41 seconds later by a third.
“We take a penalty we don’t like, and then we’re down 3-1,” he said. “We were in a fairly tight game. Not a heavy advantage to either team shot wise or chance wise. That’s where I thought it turned for us.”
He also believes the Jets’ power play needs work after they made good on just one of six chances.
“Well we’re not clicking right,” Maurice said. “We don’t have the zone time and we’re kind of out of sorts a little bit. When we get to positions that pucks get knocked down or we’re not coming up with it, we’re not in a particularly good place to defend it. We’re working on it.”
Both teams were playing back-to-back games and lacked zip in the first period but Jets forward Blake Wheeler didn’t blame it on fatigue.
“It was right there,” he said of their chance to win the game. “The start was good. Through the second period, it was good. We get the power-play goal and we’re down by a goal. Puck bounced the wrong way tonight.”
The home crowd’s celebration after Perreault’s goal was short-lived as Aston-Reese tied it up a few minutes later when, as he was falling to the ice in front of the Winnipeg net, he slipped a loose rebound past Brossoit at 4:09 for his first goal of the season.
Guentzel scored on a power play at 7:50 of the second to give the Penguins the lead and then, just 41 seconds later, a puck bounced behind the net and back out right in front of Lafferty, who slammed it in to make it 3-1.
Scheifele narrowed it by backhanding a rebound past Jarry on a power play at the 10-minute mark but Simon restored the two-goal lead with 3 1/2 minutes left as his shot pinballed through traffic before ending up in the Jets’ net. It was also his first of the season.
The Jets seemed to find more steam at the start of the third after coach Paul Maurice made some line changes but couldn’t turn things around, striking out on their fourth power play.
Instead, Lafferty scored again at 9:32 when his shot glanced off Winnipeg defenseman Anthony Bittetto’s skate. Then Guentzel beat Brossoit for his second of the game and fourth of the season at with 8:20 left to make it 6-2.
Aston-Reese scored his second of the game short-handed on a breakaway just 7 seconds into a Winnipeg power play with 5:14 remaining.
NOTES: Winnipeg finished with a 29-28 advantage on shots on goal. … The Jets had less trouble on their first meeting this season with the Penguins, walking away from PPG Paints Arena with a 4-1 win last Tuesday. … Patrik Laine picked up an assist on Scheifele’s goal but he couldn’t score despite one great chance right in front of Jarry that went high.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Colorado on Wednesday night.
Jets: Host Arizona in the second game of a six-game homestand.
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Crosby, short-handed Penguins beat winless Wild 7-4
By BRIAN HALL Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Just four games into the season, injuries have decimated the top lines for the Pittsburgh Penguins as Evgeni Malkin, Nick Bjugstad, Alex Galchenyuk and Bryan Rust have all missed time.
The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby, and a trio of callups helped pick up the load on Saturday.
Crosby had a goal and assist, Adam Johnson and Sam Lafferty each scored his first career goal, and the short-handed Penguins held on to beat the winless Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday night.
Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang, Joseph Blandisi and Jake Guentzel also scored in Pittsburgh’s first road game of the season. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for the Penguins, who scored four times in the second period.
“That’s the only way you win is with everyone contributing,” Crosby said. “I think with those guys, just the way they skate and with how fast they are on the forecheck, and what they’re able to do that way, they’re going to create chances just by that. I think with every game they’ll get more and more comfortable and you could see tonight, they got some huge goals for us.”
Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk gave up five goals on 23 shots and was pulled midway through the second period. Alex Stalock made seven saves in relief.
Jason Zucker, Jared Spurgeon, Brad Hunt and Luke Kunin scored for the Wild, who lost their home opener and fell to 0-4-0.
“Yeah, it is frustrating right now, especially start of the season,” Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu said. “I think you always want that first one, obviously, as soon as you can. Things are not going our way right now. We can be here and whine about it, but you got to go forward.”
Crosby continued his success against Minnesota — increasing his total to 23 points in 18 career games against the Wild — but Pittsburgh got support throughout the lineup while playing without four key forwards.
Malkin and Bjugstad each missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. Malkin was placed on long-term injured reserve. Rust hasn’t played this season with upper-body injury and Galchenyuk missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.
The four combined for 72 goals and 102 assists last season.
After breaking out for seven goals in the last game played by Malkin and Bjugstad, the Penguins had scored three goals in the previous two games. The injuries forced the callups of Johnson, Lafferty and Blandisi.
The three combined for three goals on Saturday while skating on the fourth line.
“I think these guys, they’ve shown that they can come in and have an impact on the game,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said, noting the fourth line defended well and sustained momentum on the forecheck. “When you can have the trust in those guys that you can put them in those situations, it can give us an opportunity to use Crosby’s line for example, in an advantageous situation offensively.”
Johnson started a Penguins surge later in the period as they scored three times in 2:28.
Guentzel scored on the power-play for a 6-2 lead midway through the third before Minnesota scored twice in 21 seconds on goals from Hunt and Kunin.
“I think the formula has been the same every game,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They score three goals in 2 1/2 minutes … It’s like we get a woe is me attitude. We’re down instead of picking up our shoes like we did the last five minutes and saying let’s go get them. Until we learn how to quit feeling sorry for ourselves, it’s not going to work.”
NOTES: Minnesota fell to 14-1-4 in home openers in franchise history. They entered the game first in league history in point percentage in home openers. … The Wild honored the National Anthem singer for the Minnesota North Stars, Jim Bowers, before the game. Bowers died in the offseason and the team used a video rendition of Bowers signing the anthem on Saturday. Minnesota’s new executive advisor, Mike Modano, did the customary “Let’s play hockey” call before the game. … Murray won his 100th career regular season game, becoming the fourth goaltender in franchise history to reach the mark. Murray is the quickest of the four, hitting the milestone in just his 166th career appearance. Only six goaltenders have reached the mark quicker in the post-expansion era. … The Wild play six of their first seven and 17 of 26 games on the road this season. The nine home games in October and November are the fewest in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Penguins: At Winnipeg on Sunday.
Wild: At Ottawa on Monday.
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