Mike Matheson had two goals and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins built a four-goal lead, then held off the visiting Ottawa Senators 6-4 on Thursday.
Dominik Simon, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel also scored, and Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust each added two assists for the Penguins, who have won 14 of 16.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 39 saves.
Josh Norris scored twice, Drake Batherson recorded a goal and an assist, Tim Stutzle scored and Brady Tkachuk had two assists for the Senators, who are 2-4-1 in their past seven.
Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg gave up two goals on five shots before being pulled for Filip Gustavsson, who made 23 saves.
It was expected that Senators goalie Matt Murray, who helped Pittsburgh win two Stanley Cups, would face his former team, but he had a non-COVID-19 illness.
Simon gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 4:28 of the first. He was closely marked by Ottawa’s Nick Holden in the left circle but scored off Forsberg’s glove.
Batherson tied it 1-1 at 10:12 of the first, putting his own rebound over Jarry’s left pad.
At 11:40 of the first, Malkin put Pittsburgh back on top, 2-1. Forsberg stopped a tip attempt by Kasperi Kapanen, but Malkin batted the puck over Forsberg’s left pad.
Malkin had a goal waved off at 14:31 after the Senators successfully challenged that the play was offside. Still, Ottawa pulled Forsberg for Gustavsson.
At 15:59 of the first, Matheson chipped in a rebound to put the Penguins ahead 3-1.
Crosby extended that to 4-1 at 11:32 of the second on a backhander.
Matheson struck again at 18:41 of the second, beating Gustavsson far side from the left circle to make it 5-1.
In the third, Stutzle cut it to 5-2 off a rebound, and the puck went in off Norris’ skate at 3:33 to make it 5-3.
Jarry stopped Alex Formenton on a penalty shot at 7:07, but Norris made it a one-goal game with his team-leading 18th goal at 8:02, off a redirect.
Guentzel scored an empty-netter with 46.6 seconds left.
–Field Level Media