Blue Jackets have six goals in beating Pens

Pittsburgh suffered its fourth consecutive loss.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Columbus Blue Jackets got a boost for their weak offense from the worst defensive team in the league.
Jaroslav Balastik scored twice, Sergei Fedorov and Rick Nash each had a goal and two assists and the Columbus Blue Jackets sent the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth consecutive loss with a 6-1 victory Wednesday night.
"It's coming around," Gerard Gallant said of his team, 5-2-1 in its last eight games. "We have a pretty good team here when we're healthy."
Columbus' six goals -- after a five-goal performance in its last game -- was a season high.
Poor Pens
Pittsburgh is moving in the opposite direction.
A day after Penguins coach Michel Therrien said his teams' performance was "pathetic" and that half of the team "doesn't care" in a 3-1 home loss to Edmonton, Pittsburgh allowed a goal 10 seconds into the game and spent much of the rest of the match throwing punches.
Therrien thought his team showed some spunk.
"For the first time this year, that team stuck-up for each other and that's a good start even if we're in January," he said. "I liked the way the guys responded to a tough start. When we go down by two goals so early in a game, mentally we're kind of fragile."
There were six fights, two at one time in the second and third periods, as the teams combined for 152 penalty minutes, tying a Blue Jackets team record.
Ryan Malone scored the lone goal for the Penguins and rookie Sidney Crosby, the teams' leading scorer with 48 points, was held pointless for the second consecutive game after a 10-game points streak.
System important
"Tomorrow we're going to have a quality practice," Therrien said. "The last few days we've gotten away from our system. If we don't play well our system is not going to work."
Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin, making his fourth career start, turned the puck over to Fedorov seconds into the game, and the forward slid a cross-ice pass to Nash, who scored with a one-timer from the right slot. The goal was the quickest to start a game in the Blue Jackets' short history.
"I think it was big to give that goalie a little downer," said Nash, who has 10 goals in 12 games since returning from a knee injury. "He just got called up and to get that first one out of the way I think gave us the momentum."
Columbus made it 2-0 on its second shot seconds after a high-sticking penalty to Nash expired.
Jan Hrdina, who had two assists, skated into the Pittsburgh zone on a 2-on-1 and fed David Vyborny, who fired the puck over Sabourin's shoulder for his 10th goal.
"The first 10 minutes was what I'm really used to doing," said Fedorov, who scored the game's final goal. "If we can get a few more of those we can put a good winning streak together."
The saves
Pascal Leclaire finished with 28 saves for Columbus, allowing only Malone's goal on a rebound.
"It was a great game and everybody enjoyed it," the rookie Leclaire said. "We want to get back in the standings and get more points."
Columbus went up 3-1 on a power-play goal by Nikolai Zherdev at 12:50.
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