Connor helps Jets defeat slumping Penguins
Has goal, assist; Pittsburgh drops 7th in past 9 games
Jets at Penguins | Recap
PITTSBURGH — Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, and the Winnipeg Jets scored the first three goals in a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov and Gabriel Vilardi scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the Jets (17-3-0), who have won two in a row after losing their previous two.
Sidney Crosby, one goal from 600 in the NHL, was held without a shot on goal for a second straight game, and Michael Bunting scored for the Penguins (7-11-4), who have lost five of six and seven of nine. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves.
Niederreiter scored on the first shot of the game to put Winnipeg ahead 1-0 at 1:22 of the first period, collecting the puck off just outside the crease off a turnover by Evgeni Malkin and tucking a backhand around Jarry’s left pad. Niederreiter ended a six-game goal drought with his eighth of the season.
Jarry has allowed a goal on the first shot faced in four of six starts this season.
Namestnikov, on his 32nd birthday, made it 2-0 at 4:53 of the second period. After dragging the puck around a sliding Bryan Rust, he took a wrist shot from the left face-off circle and followed the rebound to score with a backhand in the slot.
Rickard Rakell had a chance to make it a one-goal game at 10:58. He took a pass from Crosby on a 2-on-1 for a wrist shot from the right circle, but Hellebuyck slid over for a glove save.
Vilardi then extended it to 3-0 on the power play at 19:01 with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Connor.
Bunting cut it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 5:49 of the third period when he tapped in a pass from Rust at the left post.
Connor scored into an empty net with 1:11 remaining for the 4-1 final.