Penguins capture 7th; Jackets roll, 4-1

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — Sergei Gonchar had a goal and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins improved to 7-1 on the season with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Pittsburgh’s start is the franchise’s second-best. The best was 7-0-1 in 1995 and another 7-1 start came in 1986.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each added an assist and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury improved to 7-0 after making 22 saves.

Bill Guerin and Gonchar gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the first period, Guerin ramming Malkin’s power-play rebound into a vacated net and Gonchar slapping an unscreened point shot past goaltender Antero Niittymaki.

Tampa Bay pulled within 2-1 early in the second period when Steven Stamkos swatted a Martin St. Louis rebound out of the air for a power-play goal.

But less than two minutes later, Pascal Dupuis nullified that by deflecting Gonchar’s wrist shot over Niittymaki.

Pittsburgh went ahead 4-1 at 11:21 of the third on Mike Rupp’s wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle. Crosby set him up with a whirling pass from behind the net.

Tampa Bay remained winless on the road at 0-2-1. And Vincent Lecavalier and Alex Tanguay each remained goal-less through seven games.

Blue Jackets 4, Kings 1

COLUMBUS — Times and timing have changed for the rapidly improving Columbus Blue Jackets.

Raffi Torres broke a tie with a power-play goal late in the second period and Rick Nash added a short-handed goal to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to their third win in a row.

“Timing is everything,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Torres’ goal gave us a lift on the power play.

“Nash’s goal gave us some breathing room to play with. A lot of our scoring chances were in the first period.

“We had some chances we didn’t take advantage of and sometimes that can come back to bite you. We needed our goalie tonight and he was big.”

Jason Chimera had a goal and Jake Voracek added an empty-netter for Columbus (5-1-0), off to its best start in the franchise’s nine years. Last season was the first time the club had a winning record or made the playoffs.

Steve Mason gave up a soft goal early to Dustin Brown but was brilliant in the third period as the Kings pressed. The Blue Jackets killed five penalties and have given up one goal on 24 kills this year.

“These guys are coming in and putting a big effort up and they make my job easier,” said Mason, who had 27 saves.

The Blue Jackets have scored more goals (two) when a man down than their NHL-leading penalty kill unit has given up (one).

Last on the power play in the league last season, they have scored with the man advantage in five of their seven games this season.

The Kings have lost three in a row — all on the road.