After finding the net in regulation, Rickard Rakell scored the shootout clincher as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the visiting Winnipeg Jets 5-4 on Saturday afternoon.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson scored twice for the second straight game while Egor Chinakhov scored and provided a helper for Pittsburgh (35-18-16, 86 points). Parker Wotherspoon and Bryan Rust each had a pair of assists while netminder Arturs Silovs stopped 21 shots.
Brad Lambert had a goal and an assist for the Jets (28-29-12, 68 points), while Morgan Barron, Cole Koepke and Neal Pionk also scored. Connor Hellebuyck made 26 stops.
The Penguins opened the scoring just 1:06 into the first period when Chinakhov slipped into the slot and fired a shot to make it 1-0.
Pittsburgh doubled its lead 56 seconds later. Rust sent a backhand pass to the front of the net, where Rakell was waiting to give the Penguins a 2-0 advantage.
The Jets broke through at the 3:50 mark following a rebound that bounced off Barron’s stick and went up and in as he crashed the net, cutting the lead to 2-1. The goal was confirmed upon review.
Winnipeg tied the game 2-2 with a short-handed goal at the 13:51 mark of the second when Koepke finished off a 2-on-1 opportunity.
With 4:28 remaining in the period, the Penguins restored their advantage when Karlsson finished off a sequence of passes to make it 3-2.
Winnipeg’s Pionk tied the game 3-3 at the 4:04 mark of the third period, wiring a shot from the blue line in his first game since Jan. 13 due to injury.
After an earlier goal in the third was overturned due to a high stick, Winnipeg had to wait until there was 11:24 remaining to take its first lead as Lambert gave the Jets a 4-3 edge.
Karlsson got his second of the game to knot things up at 4-4 by beating Hellebuyck with a wrist shot with 7:15 left in regulation.
In the shootout, Sidney Crosby and Rakell scored to give the Penguins their third win in four games.
