Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 37 shots to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the opener of a home-and-home set on Friday.
Jayson Megna, Kris Letang, Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz all scored for the Penguins, who have won three straight after dropping three in a row.
"I thought Fleury was, without question, the best player on the ice tonight," said Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma. "He made some very strong saves in that first period and he was the difference in the game."
Derek MacKenzie and Ryan Johansen scored for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped their past two.
"I thought we did a lot of good things and that's why it's so frustrating," said Johansen. "We're doing these good things against good teams and just not finding a way to win."
Sergei Bobrovsky struggled in the start, giving up three goals on 13 shots before being pulled early in the second period for Curtis McElhinney, who gave up a goal on 14 shots the rest of the way.
These two teams meet in Columbus on Saturday.
The only goal of the first period went to Pittsburgh on the power play as a right circle faceoff win saw the puck go back to Paul Martin, who blasted a shot on net that was redirected by Kunitz in front for his seventh of the year at 7:11.
Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead 70 seconds into the second as Sutter grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and skated down the right wing before blasting a shot past Bobrovsky.
Less than two minutes later, the Penguins took a 3-0 lead on the power play as a slap shot from Letang at the left point trickled between the pads of Bobrovsky.
Columbus pulled Bobrovsky and replaced him with McElhinney, but it didn't help much as Megna scored on an easy tap in from the left side off a feed from Jussi Jokinen at 5:34 of the second for a 4-0 lead.
MacKenzie got Columbus on the board with his shot from the right side off a pass from Nick Foligno near the midway mark of the second period.
Johansen scored with under a minute to play in the game to account for the final score.
Game Notes
Evgeni Malkin had two assists for Pittsburgh ... Pittsburgh has won four of the last five against Columbus ... Pittsburgh went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Columbus was 0-for-4.
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