In Columbus, Gustav Nyquist struck for three goals in a 5-2 win for the Blue Jackets over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
Nyquist completed the hat trick late when he out raced Kris Letang of the Pens for a loose puck in the offensive zone, Letang had been caught on the ice and Myquist scored into an empty net.
“He (Letang) was out there a long time, and I came from the penalty box,” Nyquist said. “Bad penalty by me up two goals in the game when they are starting to push. I’ve got to be better.”
Nick Foligno had the other two goals for the Jackets who improved to 11-10-4.
“I love the way we played tonight,” Foligno said. “We all answered and thought about what happened last game (3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday) and we wanted to rectify individually as a player.
“Every guy stepped up his game tonight. That’s the result we get from it.
Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves to get the win.
“I just don’t think we played well enough tonight to win,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Jake Guentzel and Letang scored for Pittsburgh.
“You can’t take that many penalties,” Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist said. “That’s where it starts. We’ve got to stay out of the box. If we keep it to one, two, three a game, I think our killers have been doing a great job. It’s when you’re taking four, five, six, seven penalties they get tired and the seams open up.”
[WATCH:Â All Penguins vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Tristan Jarry made 25 saves in the loss.
“They were all over us all over the ice 5-on-5, 5-on-4, 4-on-5. They were the better team,” Patric Hornqvist said after the loss.
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