LDN - Sports

Rust's 3 goals help Penguins belt Senators 8-5

[December 06, 2016] PITTSBURGH - Cue the partridge in a pear tree.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' 8-5 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena had a little of everything and a lot of some things, namely goals.

"That was a weird game," Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. "Everything that could happen, happened."

Among the 13 goals were three power-play goals, a penalty-shot goal and an empty-netter. There were 80 shots, 85 hits, 34 blocked shots, two goaltender changes and three tie scores.

Merry in some ways, not so much in others.

"Any time you score that many goals, I think you're happy with it, but I think we gave up too many chances. That's something that's a part of the game we've got to shore up," said Penguins winger Bryan Rust, who notched his first career hat trick with the opening goal, the penalty shot goal and the empty-netter. He also had an assist for a four-point night.

Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which also got goals from Sidney Crosby, Matt Cullen and Justin Schultz.

Kyle Turris, Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Dion Phaneuf had goals for the Senators. Karlsson had four points, Stone had three.

It was the Penguins' third win in a row, lifting them to 35 points, tied with the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks and one behind Montreal atop the league standings.

Ottawa had been 5-1-1 in its previous seven games.

Rust opened the scoring off a no-look setup from Malkin 1:45 into the game, and it was on.

"You could tell, really, from the first period that it was going to be one of these games, and we couldn't find a way to seal it up and not give them the space that they worked really hard for," Karlsson said. "They're a good team. They're a good possession team, and they're a veteran team.

"They played a well-played game and we didn't do a good enough job of shutting them down the way that we needed to shut their top players down and it's an 8-5 game."

The teams traded goals for the balance of the first period -- Turris and Karlsson for Ottawa sandwiched around one by Crosby to make it 2-2.

Stone and Hoffman scored the first two goals in the second period, giving Ottawa three straight goals and a 4-2 lead.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan pulled starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after the Senators' fourth goal.

"It was more about trying maybe to just change the mindset of the 18 skates in front of him," Sullivan said of Fleury, who stopped 12 of 16 shots. "Sometimes when you get in those situations, you make that type of a change and maybe provide a spark for the group or maybe just change the mindset a little bit."

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Penguins right wing Bryan Rust (17) celebrates with center Nick Bonino (13) after scoring a goal to complete a hat trick against the Ottawa Senators during the third period at the PPG PAINTS Arena. The Penguins won 8-5. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Momentum certainly shifted when Cullen, 40, outraced Karlsson to get deep on a short-handed breakaway and beat goaltender Craig Anderson at 8:28 of the second period.

"It was nice to get one there and try to spark the team a little bit," Cullen said. "I didn't know if I would be able to get all the way to the net.

"I was getting ready to shoot. But, yeah, I was happy I was able to get all the way in there and make a move."

Kessel and Schultz scored before the second intermission, and Malkin gave Pittsburgh a 6-4 lead at 1:05 of the third period.

Phaneuf pulled Ottawa within 6-5 at 6:17 of the third period before Rust scored on a penalty shot after being hooked by defenseman Chris Wideman, prompting Boucher to pull goalie Craig Anderson, who stopped 36 of 43 shots.

"My heart was probably racing faster than it did all game," Rust said of the penalty shot.

His empty-net goal put things away with 2:28 left in regulation.

"It's tough," Stone said. "We made a couple mistakes that ultimately cost us the game. It's 6-5, trying to make a play, give up a breakaway (to Rust)."

NOTES: Pittsburgh G Marc-Andre Fleury started for a third straight game for the first time since G Matt Murray returned from a broken hand at the end of October. ... At the outset, the Penguins shuffled their second and third lines to look like this: LW Carl Hagelin, C Evgeni Malkin, RW Phil Kessel; LW Chris Kunitz, C Nick Bonino, RW Bryan Rust. ... Senators G Craig Anderson returned from a leave (wife's illness) and started instead of Mike Condon, who began the season with the Penguins and was picked up in a trade for when Anderson is away. ... Pittsburgh scratched Fs Tom Kuhnhackl and Jake Guentzel and D Steve Olesky. ... The Senators scratched D Marc Methot (lower body injury). ... The Penguins' sellout streak (regular season and playoffs) reached 445 games and surpassed eight million. It began Feb. 14, 2007, at Civic/Mellon Arena.

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