Reilly Smith had a goal and two assists Tuesday to help the Pittsburgh Penguins dispatch the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3.
Evgeni Malkin added a goal and an assist, Jesse Puljujarvi, Rickard Rakell and Jeff Carter also scored, and Ryan Graves added two assists for the Penguins, who had lost three in a row.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry improved to 8-1-1 all-time against Columbus with 33 saves.
Jack Roslovic and Andrew Peeke each had a goal and an assist, and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Blue Jackets, who had won two straight.
Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves, in his fourth NHL game, made 26 saves.
Puljujarvi’s first goal of the season gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 13:33 of the first. He came out of the left corner to take a pass from Graves and swat the puck past Greaves’ glove.
At 18:57 of the first, Malkin upped it to 2-0. From the top of the right circle, he blasted a slap shot under the crossbar. Smith’s assist was his 500th career point.
Columbus tied it with goals 57 seconds apart in the second. Roslovic, from the left circle, got a pass through traffic to Gaudreau at the far hash marks for a one-timer to make it 2-1 at 4:31.
Peeke tied it with his first goal of the season, a shot from the right point that deflected in off Malkin’s stick.
On a Penguins power play, Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson’s clearing attempt pass from deep deflected in off Rakell’s foot at 14:32 of the third for a 3-2 Pittsburgh lead.
Roslovic got the puck off a blocked shot, drove the length of the ice against Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson and scored short-handed from the right circle to tie it for Columbus at 8:04 of the third.
On the same power play, Carter restored Pittsburgh’s lead when his sharp-angle shot bounced off Greaves’ pad, off Peeke and in to make it 4-3 at 8:24 of the third.
Smith, alone in the slot, converted feed from the right corner by Malkin at 9:53 to increase it to 5-3.
–Field Level Media