Penguins End 5-Game Slide, Top Blue Jackets 5-2
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each scored two goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a five-game losing streak with 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
David Warsofsky got his first goal in nearly two years as the Penguins gave coach Mike Sullivan his first victory following an 0-4 start.
Matt Murray stopped 22 shots for his first NHL win. The Penguins played without captain Sidney Crosby, who missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury.
Alexander Wenneberg's third goal gave Columbus an early lead, but Pittsburgh responded with four in the second to match the total it put up in Sullivan's first four games combined. Boone Jenner added his 13th for the Blue Jackets.
Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves in his fourth NHL start.
Sullivan took over for Mike Johnston on Dec. 12, tasked with trying to boost Pittsburgh's sagging offense. The early going has been tough. The Penguins lost the first four games of Sullivan's tenure by a combined 15-4 and were dealt another blow when Crosby complained about a lower-body issue following a 2-1 defeat against Carolina on Saturday.
Columbus took the first two games from the Penguins this season, including a 2-1 victory on Nov. 27 that included Brandon Dubinsky's cross-check to the back of Crosby's neck that earned Dubinsky a one-game suspension and added another layer of animosity to a budding regional rivalry.
Wenneberg put the Blue Jackets in front 5:41 into the game, taking a pass off the end boards from Fedor Tyutin and slamming it into a wide-open net. Pittsburgh responded immediately with a rush that seemed to symbolize their frustrating season as Eric Fehr broke in alone on Korpisalo only to have the puck jump over his stick and out of harm's way.
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The Blue Jackets had a chance to double their lead with a long 5-on-3 advantage later in the first only to come up empty.
For the first time in a while, the Penguins didn't let the reprieve go to waste.
Malkin, as he's done all season, provided the jolt. His eighth power-play goal 3:06 into the second tied the game and set off a dizzying, 16-minute stretch in which Pittsburgh found the open space that has proven elusive for long stretches.
Kessel took a stretch pass from rookie Scott Wilson and beat Korpisalo on a breakaway at 4:24 to put the Penguins in front. Kessel added his 11th at 16:00 on a one-timer off a pretty cross-ice feed from Nick Bonino.
When Warsofsky's slap shot from the point whizzed past Korpisalo's extended glove, the Penguins led by three and reached the four-goal plateau for only the eighth time in their last 48 regular-season games.
NOTES: Malkin left briefly in the second period to get his right knee checked out following a collision with Jenner. ... The game was delayed briefly in the first period when a pane of glass came off after Columbus' Ryan Johansen checked Pittsburgh's Ian Cole hard into the boards. There were no injuries, though Johansen gave one of his sticks to a woman nearly hit by the glass. ... The Penguins went 2 of 4 on the power play. The Blue Jackets were 0 for 3. ... Columbus plays at Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Penguins visit Minnesota on Saturday.
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