Pittsburgh Penguins sweep past Winnipeg Jets, Tristan Jarry scores sixth

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tristan Jarry stopped 24 shots in his NHL-leading sixth game this season and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the slumping Winnipeg Jets 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Brian Rust, Jeff Carter and Kris Letang scored. Jarry improved to 5-0 against Winnipeg with two of his 19 career shutouts.

“We were on our heels a little bit and (Winnipeg) was tight,” Rust said. “They're a good team, but (Jarry) was there and made some really big saves for us.”

Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves for the Jets, who lost their fourth straight game after winning 10 of 11.

“The similarity in four games is our lack of scoring,” coach Rick Bowness said. “We are not ahead. “We're not scoring goals right now.”

The Penguins scored multiple goals with the man advantage for the first time since Dec. 18, with Rust scoring his 12th goal and Carter his sixth.

Letang scored his fourth goal to become the 21st defenseman in NHL history to score 30 points 14 times.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan earned his 430th victory in his 800th NHL game and Jake Guentzel had his 500th assist for the Penguins, who have won three straight and four of five. Pittsburgh has scored in 16 of its last 21 games.

“Obviously we're not in the position we want to be,” Jarry said. “We want to be in a playoff position. We are not happy with where we are and we need points.”

Jets leading scorer Mark Scheifele is back after missing six games with a lower-body injury. He appeared to score early in the third period, but was ruled out after a successful offside play by Pittsburgh.

Newly acquired Sean Monahan played his first game with Winnipeg. Monahan, who played Cole Perfetti and Nicola Ehlers at center, was acquired in a trade with Montreal during the All-Star break.

The Jets allowed more than two goals for the fourth time in their last 26 games.

“We had a lot of beautiful scenes,” Scheifele said. “I don't think it's anything to be disappointed about. We made a lot of good plays.”

The Penguins have won 17 of their last 21 games against the Jets. Pittsburgh has won 20 of its last 22 games at home, dating back to March 24, 2007 against Winnipeg.

The teams meet again on Saturday in Winnipeg.

Letang opened the scoring at 7:16 of the first period. He caught a pass at the Winnipeg blue line, switched to the backfield and slipped past Hellebuyck in the slot.

In the second period, Pittsburgh scored two power play goals 90 seconds apart. Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon was assessed a five-minute major and a match penalty for an illegal head check on Penguins forward Noel Acciari, who left the game and did not return.

“Our main concern is Noel,” Sullivan said. “I think he's doing well, but he's being evaluated. We'll let the league go through their process. We can all have an opinion, but at the end of the day, our opinion doesn't matter.”

Carter scored at 7:33 and Rast made it 3-0 at 9:03 as both rebounded from the top of the crease. Sidney Crosby extended his scoring streak to eight games with his second assist on Rust's goal.

“You hate when things like that happen,” Rust said of the hit on Acciari. “Getting a little revenge and scoring a few goals was big for us.”

NEXT

Flyers: Visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Penguins: Minnesota Wild on Friday.

—

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl