PITTSBURGH — Tristan Jarry made 44 saves in his return from a lower-body injury, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
Jarry has missed seven games since being injured in the first period of the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston, a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Jan. 2. He was one save short of tying his career high of 45 in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 23, 2019.
“I thought I was seeing the puck well,” Jarry said. “I had a little break. Obviously, it’s never easy to watch games and it’s never easy to watch guys go out every night and give it their all and you can’t be there with them. “
Video: OTT@PIT: Guentzel fires in his second goal of the game
Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist and Brian Rust had two assists for the Penguins (23-15-7), who are 2-0-1 after losing eight of their previous 10. They lost 5-4 in overtime in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Brady Tkachuk scored and Cam Talbot made 40 saves for the Senators (20-22-3), who have lost three of four and five of seven.
“The boys kept pushing. They tried,” Ottawa coach DJ Smith said. “I thought if you look at the chances, Jarry made some unreal saves. If it’s not as hot as it is tonight, we’ll probably get a lot more.”
Rickard Rakell and Jason Zucker scored 43 seconds apart to give Pittsburgh a two-goal lead in the first half.
Rakell put the Penguins ahead 1-0 on the power play at 11:14, scoring from the left side of the crease on a rebound after Guentzel deflected a point shot by Jeff Petry, who returned from missing 16 games with an upper-body injury.
Zucker scored for the third straight game to make it 2-0 at 11:57, spinning around Senators defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and wrapping a backhand around the left post. Seven of his 13 goals this season have come in the last 11 games.
“It’s just fun,” Zucker said. “Scoring goals is why you play the game. Winning games, winning cups, that’s the goal here. For me, I know scoring goals helps win games.”
Video: OTT@PIT: Rakell opens scoring with PPG
Guentzel made it 3-0 at 17:12 of the second period, taking a pass from Rust to the right circle for a faceoff for a snap shot.
“I thought there were changes in the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “There were times when Ottawa had it, there were times when we had it. I thought the shots came in waves. They usually came in waves when they did.’
Tkachuk made it 3-1 at 18:55 by tipping in Sidney Crosby’s shot in the crease. Tkachuk had one goal and three assists Wednesday, scoring the game-winner 25 seconds into overtime.
“We’re just trying to put our heads down and play the whole game,” Ottawa forward Derrick Brassard said. “We played with a good team. We expected a big push from them. We beat them in the last game… The main thing is that they took their chances and we didn’t put the puck in the net.
“They did a good job. We scored four goals in the last game so we expected them to be a bit tighter. It’s just frustrating when you shoot so much and have chances.”
Video: OTT@PIT: Zucker doubles Penguins lead
Guentzel scored his second goal at 6:13 of the third period for the 4-1 final when his pass intended for Crosby went off Bernard-Docker’s stick.
The Senators outscored the Penguins 21-12 in the third.
“Both goaltenders actually played well,” Ottawa forward Mathieu Joseph said. “But I think we made it too easy. I don’t think we were in front of the goal enough. He was good, like I said, but it’s hard to score in this league.”
NOTES: Guentzel is the fourth Penguins player in the last 20 years to have six consecutive seasons with at least 40 points, joining Crosby (11 seasons from 2012-13 to 2022-23 and six seasons from 2005-06 to 2010-11), Evgeny Malkin (seven seasons from 2013-14 to 2019-20) and Chris Kunitz (six seasons from 2010-11 to 2015-16). … Joseph had four goals in 12:04 hours of ice time in his first game since Dec. 8. He was a healthy scratch Wednesday after sitting out the previous 17 games with a lower-body injury. … Pittsburgh forward Kasperi Kapanen did not play with a lower-body injury. He is week to week.
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