Penguins score seven for second straight night in win against Jets
Lafferty, Guentzel, Aston-Reese each has two goals, Letang gets 500th point for Pittsburgh
by Darrin Bauming / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
WINNIPEG -- Sam Lafferty, Jake Guentzel and Zach Aston-Reese each scored two goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins won their third straight game, 7-2 against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Sunday.
The Penguins scored seven goals for the second straight game and third time this season, defeating the Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday and the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 on Oct. 5.
Aston-Reese also had an assist and Sidney Crosby had two assists for the Penguins (4-2-0). Lafferty has five points (three goals, two assists) in his last two games for the Penguins.
[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Jets highlights]
The Penguins have been without forwards Evgeni Malkin, Nick Bjugstad, Bryan Rust, and Alex Galchenyuk because of injuries.
"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."
Pittsburgh's fourth line of Lafferty, Joseph Blandisi, and Adam Johnson has combined for five goals the last two games.
Video: PIT@WPG: Lafferty nets carom, Letang hits 500 points
"It's pretty sound evidence that it's an effective way to win in this League regardless of who's in your lineup," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We talk a lot about being hard to play against. I think this is the definition of it. It starts with your own puck possession, the decisions you make, the line changes."
Kris Letang had two assists to put him at 501 points in the NHL, extending his point streak to six games (one goal, seven assists), and Tristan Jarry made 27 saves in his first start of the season for Pittsburgh. Crosby also extended his point streak to six (three goals, seven assists).
Mathieu Perreault and Mark Scheifele scored, and Laurent Brossoit made 21 saves for the Jets (4-3-0), who lost for the first time in four games.
"There were some strange bounces, for sure," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "So this is what I'll take from this game. I've had a number of guys I've run real hard. And while they were working, it was a tough night for them."
Perreault scored 1:47 into the game to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.
Aston-Reese found a loose puck on the side of the net to tie the game 1-1 4:09 into the first period.
Video: PIT@WPG: Aston-Reese cleans up loose puck for goal
"I think we kind of take a simpler approach," Aston-Reese said. "I know it's kind of a big cliche, putting pucks in deep and getting them back, but we've been sticking to that and it's been working. Some of the goals we've had, they're not the prettiest ones. They're just throwing pucks to the net and just being strong in front and putting them home."
Guentzel's power-play goal at 7:50 of the second period put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.
Lafferty made it 3-1 Pittsburgh 41 seconds later at 8:31, with Letang getting the secondary assist to reach 500 NHL points.
Scheifele scored on the power play to bring the Jets within 3-2 at 10:00 of the second period.
Dominik Simon made it 4-2 Pittsburgh at 16:28 of the second.
Video: PIT@WPG: Simon pots Crosby's kick-pass
Lafferty scored his second goal of the game at 9:13 of the third period to make it 5-2.
"I feel it's just an outlier" Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "I don't feel it's indicative of our team. We've obviously been behind a fair bit this year, but we've stayed in the battle. We've fought all year. Every once and a while it's going to go like that."
Guentzel made it 6-2 at 11:40 of the third period.
Aston-Reese scored shorthanded on a breakaway to make it 7-2 at 14:46 of the third.
They said it
"You never want to give up shorthanded goals. Those are back-breakers. So again, we're going to have to clean that up." -- Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey on the three shorthanded goals Winnipeg has allowed this season
"Feels pretty good, especially against this team after what happened last game, giving them an easy goal and then not being able to respond. Just being able to get those (two goals tonight) feels good." -- Zach Aston-Reese on his two-goal game Sunday after losing to the Jets 4-1 on Oct. 8
Need to know
Jets forward Andrew Copp played his 300th NHL game. … Erik Gudbranson returned to the Penguins lineup after not playing in Pittsburgh's 7-4 win in Minnesota on Saturday.
What's next
Penguins: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN)
Jets: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)