Pens survive Ottawa rally for 6-4 win

In Pittsburgh, the Penguins had an easy 5-1 lead headed to the third period on Thursday.

The Ottawa Senators rallied for three goals to make it 5-4, but Jake Guentzel blunted the rally with a late empty net strike for a 6-4 score in favor of the Pens.

Tristan Jarry made 39 saves in the Pittsburgh win.

“I don’t think we had our best game all night,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “It was just one of those games where we just lacked the attention to detail that our team is normally accustomed to playing with.”

Tim Stutzle scored in the third period rally, and Josh Norris scored twice for Ottawa in the final frame.and

“I think we know we shouldn’t be down by four at that point,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said. “I think we did a lot of good things. … It’s one of those games. We’ve won plenty of games this year where we didn’t play like that.”

The Penguins improved to 24-10-5.

“Not ideal,” Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust said. “I think there were large portions of that game where we didn’t play the way that we should be playing and the way we had been playing in the past. We’ve got to look at that and clean that up.”

Mike Matheson struck twice for the Penguins.

“Kind of all through this game, we were a little sloppy,” Matheson said. “It’s a tough way to play. Teams are really good on the transition now.”

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin added single markers in the win.

“Those first two periods, we were playing the way we want to play,” the Senators’ Brady Tkachuk said. “Of course, the score didn’t show it. … Nobody likes losing in that locker room. So it stings a little bit.

Pittsburgh grabbed an early 1-0 lead off a goal from Dominik Simon, but Drake Batherson replied for the Senators to tie it, 1-1.

The Senators fell to 11-20-2.

“Going into the third, we knew the score was 5-1 but it really didn’t feel that way,” Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot said. “We played great the whole game. I think that’s what we tried to do in the third. We tried to go back and stick with what we were doing. I think we have to take some pride out of that.”