Crosby scores 25th goal, helps Penguins beat Blue Jackets

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored his 25th goal and added an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Friday night.

Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust both had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Malkin, Noel Acciari and Bokondji Imama also scored for the Penguins, who are 22-3-4 in their last 28 games against Columbus. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 44 shots in his first start since March 7.

Boone Jenner scored his first since returning from shoulder surgery, while Kent Johnson and Justin Danforth also scored for Columbus, which couldn’t rally from a 5-2 deficit. Elvis Merzlikins, who started Thursday’s 1-0 overtime loss against Florida, made 28 saves on Friday.

Crosby became the 13th player in NHL history to record at least 15 seasons with at least 25 goals. He is four points from passing Wayne Gretzky and clinching an NHL-record 20th point-per-game season. He has six goals and 10 points during a six-game point streak. Crosby also has points in 12 straight home games, fifth-longest in NHL history by a player 37 or older.

The Blue Jackets are 1-8 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. They have four goals in their last five games.

Takeaways

Blue Jackets: Columbus lost its sixth straight game and remained three points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets have lost eight of nine overall.

Penguins: Pittsburgh won for the fifth time in six games. The Penguins had a four-game winning streak before a 4-2 home loss against the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Key moment

Imama gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead with a one-timer shortly after a faceoff win in the offensive zone at 8:15 of the second period.

Key stat

The Penguins have four regulation losses at home against Columbus (24-4-1) dating back to the 2000-01 season.

Up next

Penguins visit Florida on Sunday, and Blue Jackets play at the New York Islanders on Monday.