News » PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh forward

Jake Guentzel couldn’t find the back of the net for several games during the Penguins‘ recent slump.Now that the Penguins are starting to hit stride Christian Folin Jersey Womens , Guentzel is starting to fill the net.Guentzel scored his first career regular-season hat trick and the Penguins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Saturday night.“He’s a pretty consistent player for us,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “The thing I like about Jake is, even when he doesn’t score, he plays the game the right way. He just has a high intellect and reads plays well, but when he scores, he helps us win.”Guentzel’s first career hat trick came in the 2017 playoffs against Columbus, and he had another in the 2018 playoffs against Philadelphia.Guentzel has scored six goals in his last seven games overall after failing to score in the previous seven. He has 16 points in 13 regular-season and playoff games against Columbus. Guentzel also has nine goals, including two hat tricks, in his last eight games against the Blue Jackets.“Pucks just kind of keep finding me,” Guentzel said. “They’re just going in right now, so you have to try and ride it as long as you can.”Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins, who have won two of their last three after losing nine of their previous 10. Kris Letang had three assists and Sidney Crosby two. Phil Kessel continued an eight-game point streak for Pittsburgh and Evgeni Malkin has a seven-game run.Pittsburgh won its sixth straight against the Blue Jackets, matching the longest win streak against Columbus. The Penguins also won their sixth straight at home against the Blue Jackets.Casey DeSmith made 37 saves for Pittsburgh.“I think we have improved the last four or five games,” Letang said. “We’ve been playing a lot better. We don’t get the result we want every time David Perron Jersey Womens , but I think this was proof that we’re on the right track.”Cam Atkinson continued a career-best, seven-game goal streak with his 15th of the season. He tied the all-time franchise mark set in November 2002 by Geoff Sanderson. Atkinson, with nine goals and 13 points in seven games, owns the longest goal-scoring streak of any NHL player this season.“It was a nice, lucky goal, I guess,” Atkinson said. “I used their guy as a screen and it just happened to go in. That’s my game. I just keep shooting. When you have the hot stick, you have to shoot a little bit more and good things happen.”Scott Harrington also scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost for the second time in three games after winning five of their previous six. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 32 shots for the Blue Jackets.“We played a good third period,” Atkinson said. “We had chances, we just didn’t capitalize and bury those opportunities.”Harrington, Pearson and Guentzel scored three goals in 2:13 as Pittsburgh held an early 2-1 lead.Harrington, Pittsburgh’s second-round pick in 2011, opened the scoring for Columbus Jimmy Hayes Jersey Womens , but Pearson responded 45 seconds later with his third goal in four games.Guentzel took a drop pass from Crosby and sent a wrist shot behind Korpisalo from the slot to put Pittsburgh in front.Guentzel scored again on a second Crosby drop pass later in the period. Crosby powered around Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara and dropped a pass to Guentzel, who beat Korpisalo to the blocker side with a wrist shot.“(Crosby) is really good on his backhand, so you have to be ready at all times,” Guentzel said. “I was fortunate to be on the end of that.”Atkinson made it 3-2 when he scored in his seventh straight, but Guentzel restored Pittsburgh’s two-goal lead with his third of the game, a backhander from the top of the crease.“Sometimes the puck goes in, and other times it doesn’t, but (Guentzel) is on it every night in some capacity,” Sullivan said. “He had a strong game and he’s definitely a guy we’re going to rely on moving forward.”NOTES: Both teams had goals disallowed in the second period. … Penguins’ F Patric Hornqvist missed the game with a concussion. … Malkin tied Jaromir Jagr for third on the team’s all-time games played list and Letang equaled Brooks Orpik for most by a defenseman in team history. … Penguins’ D Jack Johnson played his former team for the first time since signing a five-year, free-agent contract with Pittsburgh in the offseason. Johnson spent seven seasons in Columbus. … Mike Sullivan coached in his 240th game with the Penguins, tying Bob Berry and Johnny Wilson for fifth-most in franchise history.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Visit Detroit on Monday.Penguins: Travel to Winnipeg on Tuesday. WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Winnipeg Jets have yet to show the form that propelled them to the second-best record in the NHL last season, but they’re finding ways to win until everybody is all on the same flight path.The Jets defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Saturday night, pushing their record to 5-2-1 Chris Bigras Jersey Womens , but it was hardly a Picasso or a Rembrandt. In artistic terms, this game was more like dogs playing poker.The Jets were outshot 45-32, including 16-6 in the first period. The latter statistic, however, flattered the home team, who went 14 minutes between their second and third shots of the frame. (During four of those minutes, the Jets were short-handed.)Article continues below ...Defenseman Jacob Trouba, who has been handling the puck like it’s a hand grenade all month long, had arguably his best game of the season, picking up a career-high three assists. He told The Winnipeg Sun that he was happy to see defensemen Tyler Myers and Josh Morrissey as well as winger Mathieu Perreault notch their first goals of the season.“When everyone gets a goal, it feels pretty good when they score,” he said. “It’s good to see. You want to see everyone jump in and get in there. It’s great to see a lot of names on the scoresheet.”Morrissey and left winger Kyle Connor are tied for the team lead in points with seven ahead of the early-season favorites Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine.If nothing else, the game against the Coyotes proved that back-up goalie Laurent Brossoit is the real deal and can provide some much-needed rest for starter Connor Hellebuyck during the season. He stopped 42 shots for his second victory of the season.“We had a little lull in the first (period) and he was there to back us up Jack Johnson Jersey Womens , especially on those penalty kills,” Trouba said of Brossoit.“Both games he’s played he’s been extremely good and when (Hellebuyck’s) been in, he’s been good. You definitely can’t look at the goaltenders and expect much more.”The Blues come to town having lost three of their last four but their win on Saturday night, boosting their record to 2-3-2, did most of Canada a favor. By defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1, handing the Leafs their second consecutive defeat, they forced most national sports television and radio shows to talk about something other than the Leafs being the odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup next spring and break every offensive record in the process.Blues coach Mike Yeo was pleased with the efforts by his troops, who kept the Leafs – the highest-scoring team in the league – off the scoreboard until the third period. They also outshot the Leafs 25-23.“That looked a lot more like the St. Louis Blues. The guys came out [and] gave us a great response,” he said in a post-game scrum.The Leafs visit the Jets on Wednesday.