Sidney Crosby had a hat trick plus an assist Tuesday to lift the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins to their fifth straight win, 5-3 over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Erik Karlsson and Jake Guentzel each added a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who are 9-0-1 in the teams’ past 10 meetings.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 27 saves.
Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov and Alexandre Texier scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost their sixth straight (0-4-2).
Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 36 saves.
Crosby extended his point streak to nine games when he opened the scoring at 4:10 of the first. Set up by Marcus Pettersson, Crosby, from the extended goal line, swiped the puck off Merzlikins.
Marchenko tied it at 10:29 of the first period. After a Pittsburgh turnover in its offensive zone, Marchenko carried the puck down the right side. He cut into the slot, got around Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea and scored on a backhander.
The Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead with 31 seconds left in the first. Chinakhov moved in from the right-wing boards to the near dot and wristed a shot off Jarry’s right pad.
Pittsburgh got the only goal of the second when Guentzel tied it at 7:04. Crosby, from the right circle, sent the puck toward the slot. Vinnie Hinostroza got his stick on it. Guentzel, as he was losing his footing in the low slot, poked the puck past Merzlikins’ stick to make it 2-2.
That gave Guentzel four goals and eight points in the past five games.
Evgeni Malkin sent a cross-zone pass to Karlsson, who blasted a one-timer short side from the top of the left circle to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead at 8:40 of the third.
Texier tied it once more at 11:45 of the third when he swept a rebound inside the left post.
Crosby, from near the right post, deflected in a pass by Karlsson at 14:27 of the third to make it 4-3, then added an empty-netter with 36.1 seconds left for his 16th career hat trick
–Field Level Media
