Penguins extend point streak to five with win against Jets

WINNIPEG -- Derek Grant and Zach Aston-Reese scored in the third period to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally for a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Tuesday.

Sidney Crosby and Riley Sheahan also scored for the Penguins (10-8-5), who extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2). Casey DeSmith made 24 saves.
"Yeah, they're doing a lot of good things and a lot of those guys are a big part of killing penalties and getting big kills for us so to see them chip in offensively is great," Crosby said of Pittsburgh's bottom six forwards. "They deserve it with how hard they work."
WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Jets highlights]
Mark Scheifele scored two goals and Brandon Tanev also scored for the Jets (13-8-2), who are 7-3-2 when leading after the second period. Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves.
Grant, who returned after missing two games because of an undisclosed injury, tied the game 3-3 with his first of the season at 5:08 of the third period.

"To be honest, I've got to watch video because I am in shock that thing went through," Hellebuyck said. "I could give you a million excuses, but that's all they're going to be -- excuses -- so I'm not going to go that route. I'm just going to take responsibility and say that one is on me."
Aston-Reese gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead at 14:48 when Phil Kessel's attempted feed to the front of the net was redirected into the slot, where Aston-Reese put a slap shot past Hellebuyck.
"We didn't give up in here," Grant said. "We stuck to the game plan and tried to play the right way the whole game we got some big saves from Casey. Some big blocks from guys. We really wanted this one."

Tanev gave the Jets a 1-0 lead when he scored shorthanded at 7:01 of the first period. It was his third goal in his past four games.
Crosby tied the game 1-1 at 18:13 of the first with his 10th goal of the season.

Scheifele put the Jets back in front 39 seconds into the second period on a one-timer off a cross-seam pass from Blake Wheeler to make it 2-1.
Sheahan tied it 2-2 at 4:39. His initial shot in the slot was saved by Hellebuyck, but the puck dropped in behind the Jets goaltender and Sheahan was able to push it across the line.
Scheifele's second goal of the game gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 16:00 of the second period when his wrist shot beat DeSmith for his 13th goal of the season.
"We've just go to play the way we know how to," Scheifele said of protecting third-period leads. "We get away from it, we start doing things that aren't part of our strategy. We turn pucks over, we don't get pucks deep. We've just got to simplify in those areas.
"We're a simple team, we get it deep, we work teams in the offensive zone and make them go an extra 30 to 50 feet every time. You turn it over, they're going to make you pay."

They said it

"It's huge when you get contributions like that from throughout your lineup, especially in the bottom six. I just think that makes us that much more difficult to play against and on a night like tonight, it's the difference in the hockey game." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"We gave up five shots in the third. It wasn't a tilt to the ice by any means. I think we're going to like our chances better than theirs in the third. Gave up a tough one, got a bad break on one and it's in the back of the net. That's it. It's a tight game. Not a lot of execution probably going both ways. Each team had a hand in that, shutting the other team down a little bit. Tough night." -- Jets center Mark Scheifele

Need to know

Kessel's assist extended his point streak to nine games (three goals, nine assists). … With an assist, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel reached 100 points for his NHL career. He has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his past five games. … Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has six assists in a four-game point streak. … Jets forward Patrik Laine (99 goals in 177 games played) is one goal shy of becoming the fourth-youngest player in NHL history to score 100 regular-season goals. He had a four-game goal streak and a five-game point streak end.

What's next

Penguins: At the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)