In Pittsburgh, the beleaguered Penguins got a big win on Tuesday night, 5-3, over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. 
The Pens took a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza, and the held off the Blue Jackets for the win.
Tristan Jarry made 33 saves in the win.
“It’s just about playing for each other and playing hard every night,” Jarry said. “That’s all we can do at this point is play hard every night and give it our best.”
The Penguins moved to 28-24-8, snapping a three-game skid
“Obviously, there’s a lot of noise around the team right now, probably more so than there’s been in a lot of years,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “Part of our job is to make sure we focus on the task at hand, and that’s the game right in front of us. That’s our challenge.”
Jesse Puljujarvi opened the scoring for Pittsburgh when he staked them to a 1-0 lead at 13:33 of the opening stanza.
Evgeny Malkin pushed the advantage to 2-0 a with 63 seconds left in the first.
Columbus dropped to 21-31-10.
It was the Blue Jackets’ 14th straight loss in Pittsburgh.
“We don’t really talk about it, to be honest,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “It’s one of those things where I’m aware of it, but it’s one of those things, before the game, no one mentions it. It’s just a game we want to go out there and win.”
The Blue Jackets rallied back to tie the game, 2-2, in the middle frame.
Johnny Gaudreau trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 4:31, scoring off a one-timer from the right side.
“I thought we had a slow start in the first, but we battled back in the second, tied the game up,” Gaudreau said. “They found a way to take a 3-2 lead, tied it up again. Kind of just ran out of gas toward the end of the third there. But thought we had a good effort other than the first.”
Columbus got it even on a marker from Andrew Peeke 57 seconds later, for a 2-2 score.
“We were in a position to win this game,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “We played hard, we competed. … That’s why it’s frustrating because this one, I really feel like we should’ve won that game.
The Pens replied with a power play strike by Rickard Rakell at 14:32 of the second for a 3-2 lead Pittsburgh carried into the third period.
Jack Roslovic got the two teams even, again, this time 3-3, on a goal off an off man rush at 8:04 of the third period.
Pittsburgh responded with another power play strike, this one from Jeff Carter 8:26 for a 4-3 lead to the Pens.
Reilly Smith iced the win for the Penguins midway through the third period, scoring off a rebound, for the 5-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“It means a lot, to be honest,” Smith said. “I would have been happy with one growing up. Time goes by fast and you just try to enjoy every moment. It’s pretty special.”
Jet Greaves made 26 saves in the loss.
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