In Pittsburgh, the Penguins surrendered the first goal of the game to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday afternoon, and then reeled off five unanswered goals in a 5-1 victory.
Patric Hornqvist struck twice and had three points in the win.
Patric Hornqvist had two goals and three points for the Penguins – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Matt Murray made 27 saves in the win.
“Sometimes you get lucky out there, and you keep shooting,” Hornqvist said. “It was one of those afternoons. It’s always fun to score.”
Valtteri Filppula had the lone Red Wings goal in the loss.
“We had the puck more than we have, did more good things than bad,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said,”Sometimes the score indicates the game, sometimes it doesn’t. I didn’t think it did tonight. … I understand it looks bad, 5-1 on the scoreboard. We got beat bad, but that’s not the way the game went.
Sidney Crosby, Sam Lafferty and Kris Letang had single markers for the winners.
“I think we’re getting back to the game that has brought us success most of the year,” Penguins heaqd coach Mike Sullivan said. “I still think there’s areas where we’ve got to tighten up in order to be a little bit more stingy defensively and harder to play against. We’re working on those details with the guys.
“We’re playing the game hard. We just have to make sure we play the game a little smarter at critical times during the game. For the most part, I think we’re trending the right way.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Penguins highlights]
Jimmy Howard got the start for Detroit but was given the hook after the fourth Pens goal. He made 12 saves.
Jonathan Bernier made 18 saves in the mop role.
“I think this shows a lot about peoples’ character, guys’ character,” Detroit’s Luke Glendening said. “It’s easy to be happy, do things the right way, when things are going well. But it’s hard when things are going poorly. It’s easy to point fingers, but we’re all part of the problem. We have to look within ourselves and see how we can be part of the solution.”
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