Penguins win without Crosby, Malkin

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

For a team seemingly so reliant on megastars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins sure do seem to handle their business when forced to play without them.

David Perron and Brandon Sutter scored power-play goals less than 4 minutes apart in the third period and the Penguins rallied for a 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. Pittsburgh snapped a four-game losing streak and somehow improved to 9-0-1 in their last 10 games with both Malkin and Crosby — who have a combined three MVPs between them — out of the lineup.

“Even though they weren’t playing you want to make sure to prove to everyone that you can still play,” Perron said. “We found a way to win without them.”

Kris Letang had a career-high five assists in his return to the lineup after missing a week with concussion-like symptoms. Nick Spaling, Steve Downie and Patric Hornqvist also scored for Pittsburgh. Thomas Greiss stopped 19 shots.

The Penguins rode the streaking Perron — who has six goals in nine games since arriving in a trade from Edmonton on Jan. 2 — and a gritty performance from a patchwork lineup.

Perron tied the game at 3 at 4:23 of the third period and Sutter put the Penguins in front 7:52 into the third when his centering pass from behind the goal line somehow deflected off Ondrej Pavelec and into the net.