Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist and goaltender Tristan Jarry made 44 saves Friday to pace the Pittsburgh Penguins past the visiting Ottawa Senators 4-1.
The Penguins earned three of a possible four points in the home-and-home after Ottawa won Wednesday 5-4 in overtime.
Rickard Rakell and Jason Zucker also scored, and Bryan Rust added two assists for the Penguins, who are 4-2-1 in their past seven games.
Jarry returned after missing the previous seven games because of a lower-body injury.
Brady Tkachuk scored for the Senators, who fell to 2-5-0 in their past seven.
Ottawa goaltender Cam Talbot made 40 saves.
Pittsburgh’s Brock McGinn laid a big but clean hit on Ottawa’s Erik Brannstrom, then complied when Ottawa’s Travis Hamonic immediately challenged him to a fight at 12:26 of the first. Hamonic was given an instigator penalty, and the Penguins cashed in on the ensuing power play.
Jeff Petry — back after missing 16 games because of an upper-body injury — blasted a shot from the center point. Guentzel tipped it in front. Talbot made a pad save, but Rakell chipped in the rebound to make it 1-0 at 11:14.
Zucker scored 43 seconds later. Behind the Senators net, he stole the puck from Jacob Bernard-Docker, moved up and lifted a backhander inside the left post for a 2-0 Penguins lead.
Guentzel upped it to 3-0 at 17:12 of the second. Rust carried the puck down the left side, eventually feeding Guentzel, who got behind the defense. From the right hash marks, he went backhand to forehand and beat Talbot over his blocker.
At 18:55 of the second, Tkachuk cut it to 3-1. From near the left post on a rebound of a shot by Tim Stutzle, Tkachuk settled the puck briefly, then launched a shot that glanced in off Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pettersson.
Guentzel reached 20 goals and gave the Penguins a 4-1 lead at 6:13 of the third when his pass for Sidney Crosby on a give-and-go deflected in off Bernard-Docker’s stick.
Tkachuk and Pittsburgh’s Mark Friedman fought at 13:50 of the third.
–Field Level Media