Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson scored for the Penguins (21-24-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
“We needed the two points tonight. One wasn't going to be good enough, and we know it,” Nedeljkovic said. “We know where we are, so we need two points every night here going forward. Tonight was the first step. It makes tomorrow's flight home a lot easier to sit through. But we've got to go right back to work on Friday, and then we've got a big one on Saturday.”
Mikhail Sergachev and Michael Carcone scored for Utah (21-21-8), which has lost three straight games. Connor Ingram made 25 saves.
“I think we generated good offense," Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. "I think we need to be more opportunistic."
Sergachev opened the scoring with a power play goal at 14:51 of the first period, firing a snap shot past Nedeljkovic to give Utah a 1-0 lead.
“I don't know what it's going to take, but I think the leadership group and the coaches are doing everything we can to try to turn it around,” Sergachev said. “We can't be too negative about it, but we can't be just whatever, and excellent [either]. We can't be like that, so we're going to talk about it tomorrow for sure.”