Zucker leads Pens past Montreal

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In Pittsburgh, newly acquired Jason Zucker scored twice for the Penguins in a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.

“To me, it’s just about the win,” Zucker said. “That was great. It was good to get that winning feeling back. Great to do it with these guys. So it was a fun night.”

Kris Letang had a goal for the Penguins – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

Tristan Jarry made 34 saves in the win.

“It’s nice to get a flow of games here,” Sidney Crosby said. “It’s been off-and-on since I’ve come back, so I think with this point in the schedule, it’ll be good just to play games consistently. I think with that, things will get better. I think it’s trending the right way. Just need to make sure I continue to get better here.”

Tomas Tatar had the lone goal for the Habs.

“It’s not easy to play in this building,” Tatar said. “Obviously, they have a really good team. But I think we were battling with them for a long time.”

Kris Letang and Zach Aston-Reese added single markers for the Pens.

“I thought [Zucker’s] speed was more noticeable tonight,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “You could see how good he is on the transition when the puck changes from defense to offense. Just his ability to create separation and jump into windows of opportunity. We’ve got some guys that can get him the puck, so I thought that was much more evident tonight. I just think Jason’s going to get more comfortable with every day that he’s here. You can see his ability to finish. He had two real good goals tonight. So we’re excited about having him.”

[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Penguins highlights]

Carey Price made 24 saves in the loss.

“We feel that we want to keep pushing,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said. “I know our chances are getting slimmer every game we lose. But we look around and we get a little bit of help, like last night. So it gives you hope. At the end of the day, it’s pretty simple: We’re going to have to get on a really good winning streak if we plan on getting back into this hunt.”