Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust both had hat tricks and the Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks 8-5 on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
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Rust, who was playing his first game since Nov. 24, added two assists. He has five goals and 14 points in 13 games this season.
The home favorites started the game with a bang, scoring a whopping six goals in the first period alone. In his very first meeting in the National Hockey League (NHL), Kasper Bjorkqvist hit the target. Jake Guentzel was the other scorer.
The Sharks showed tenacity, however, closing the gap to just one net. Alexander Barabanov, Brent Burns, Matt Nieto, Jacob Middleton and Logan Couture responded. Timo Meier has collected three assists.
James Reimer was kicked out of his net after conceding six goals on 17 shots. In relief, Zach Sawchenko played his first game in the NHL. He gave up once on 21 shots.
The Bruins had the answer
In Detroit, Patrice Bergeron started an unanswered five-goal push for the Boston Bruins, who beat the Sabers by a score of 5-1.
Tyler Bertuzzi had yet opened the scoring for crowd favorites.
Erik Haula, Charlie McAvoy, Trent Frederic and Tomas Nosek also beat Alex Nedeljkovic, who faced 37 shots. Jeremy Swayman, for his part, blocked 23 of 24 pucks aimed at him.
The win put the Bruins ahead of the Sabers in the Atlantic Division standings. The Massachusetts club also has five games in hand.