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PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Carter and Reilly Smith scored just over a minute apart midway through the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 on Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Blue Jackets tied it earlier in the period on a short-handed goal by Jack Roslovic before Carter and Smith beat rookie goaltender Jet Greaves to give the Penguins some breathing room.
Rickard Rakell turned a fluky redirect for his ninth goal of the season, Evgeni Malkin collected his 18th and Jesse Puljujarvi added his first for the Penguins. Ryan Graves had two assists. Smith added a pair of assists to cross the career 500-point mark.
Tristan Jarry stopped 34 shots as Pittsburgh bounced back from a nightmarish western road trip by improving to 10-0-1 in its last 11 meetings with Columbus.
Johnny Gaudreau and Andrew Peeke scored 57 seconds apart in the second period to briefly erase a two-goal deficit. Greaves finished with 26 saves in his fourth career start.
Roslovic tied it 8:04 into the third but the Penguins -- who have struggled to maintain third-period leads of late, one of the reasons they're in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight season -- responded by continuing their mastery over the Blue Jackets.