Penguins forward Jeff Carter tied the game with a shorthanded goal and then scored the winner on the power play in the third period on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Gene J. Puskar | AP photo
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PITTSBURGH — Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel both scored twice and Pittsburgh’s beleaguered power play showed signs of life as the Penguins slipped past the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh scored twice with the man advantage while ending an 0-for-37 drought that stretched over a month.
Jake Guentzel scored the Penguins’ first power-play goal in 31 days when he beat Carter Ingram just over a minute into the game and added an empty-netter from his belly to seal it.
Carter deflected Kris Letang’s point shot past Ingram 4:32 into the third to give Pittsburgh the lead for good as the Penguins ended a four-game losing streak. Carter, relegated to the fourth line in his 19th season, scored the 20th short-handed goal of his career in the first period.
Tristan Jarry made 19 saves as the Penguins pulled away from the Coyotes, playing for the third time in four nights on the road.
Lawson Crouse scored his 13th of the season for Arizona and added an assist on Matias Maccelli’s power-play goal. Ingram stopped 40 shots but let Carter’s deflection sneak by him as the Coyotes lost their 11th consecutive game to Pittsburgh.
Arizona rookie forward Logan Cooley, a Pittsburgh native who took up the game by as a 5-year-old by participating in a “Little Penguins” program run by franchise icon Sidney Crosby, skated 16:26 in his return to his hometown.
The Penguins came in riding a 3-6-3 funk since Nov. 16, fueled in part by their star-laden power play’s inability to find the back of the net, with players passing up open shots.
First-year general manager Kyle Dubas expressed optimism on Monday even with Pittsburgh closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference than a playoff spot. Dubas gave longtime coach Mike Sullivan a vote of confidence, calling him the right man to help steer the injury-riddled and underachieving Penguins back into contention.
It did not take long for Guentzel to end Pittsburgh’s long power-play drought, taking a pass from behind the net by Crosby and beating Ingram from in close 1:12 into the game.
Arizona scored twice on the power play, with Crouse taking a cross-ice pass from former Penguin Jason Zucker and chipping it past Jarry 10:20 into the first. Maccelli pounced on a loose puck in front of the Pittsburgh net and jammed the puck into the net to put the Coyotes in front.
Carter pulled the Penguins even later in the first period by breaking in alone on Ingram and beating him with a backhand.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, RANGERS 3
NEW YORK — Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner each scored twice, and veteran Martin Jones made 28 saves in his first start for Toronto in a win over New York.
Matthews added two assists and the Maple Leafs also got goals from Conor Timmins and Calle Jarnkrok in improving to 5-0-2 in their last seven games.
Toronto led 4-1 after 20 minutes but New York scored twice in the second period to narrow the deficit to one before Marner got his second of the night on a power play early in the third.
Blake Wheeler scored twice and Mika Zibanejad had a goal for the Rangers, who lost for the third time in four games.
Jones is backing up Toronto starter Ilya Samsonov, with Joseph Woll out due to an ankle injury. Jones came on in relief after Woll was hurt last Thursday against Ottawa, making nine saves on 10 shots for the win. The 33-year-old Jones, who has also played for Los Angeles, San Jose, Philadelphia and Seattle, was signed as a free agent last summer. He was playing for the AHL Marlies.
The Rangers were coming off a 4-1 home win over Los Angeles on Sunday night following road losses at Ottawa and Washington.