PITTSBURGH (AP) —  The Pittsburgh Penguins coach isn’t sure there is one that can adequately describe why his team dominates the Columbus Blue Jackets.“All I can tell you is Derek Ryan Jersey Womens , every game we play them is a hard-fought battle and the margin for error is slim,” Sullivan said.And every game ends the same: with the Penguins exchanging high-fives on their way to the dressing room while the Blue Jackets trudge off wondering how another one got away.Matt Murray stopped 25 shots for his 10th career shutout and the Penguins opened a pivotal home-and-home with the Columbus by rolling to a 3-0 victory on Thursday night.“We’re finding ways to win,” Sullivan said with a shrug.The Penguins always seem to when the Blue Jackets are on the other side of the ice. Pittsburgh has won eight straight over Columbus. And while the Blue Jackets will get another shot at the Penguins at Nationwide Arena on Saturday night, Pittsburgh put on a defensive clinic in front of Murray to drop Columbus to just 2-4 since the trade deadline.“I think we need something good to happen,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “They blocked 24 shots. We have a lot of shot attempts and a lot of good things, but we don’t score a goal.”For the first time in more than a month, that wasn’t an issue for Penguins forward Phil Kessel, who ended a 16-game scoring drought when he beat surprise starter Joonas Korpisalo just 2:22 into the first period to give Pittsburgh a lead it would never relinquish. The crowd erupted when he banked a shot from in tight off a sprawled Korpisalo and into the net for his first goal since Jan. 30.“I got lucky tonight John Carlson Jersey ,” Kessel said. “I thought it was going to come a little earlier than it did. It took me a little while. But hopefully now I can get a hot streak going or something.”Nick Bjugstad collected his ninth of the season for Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby took a high stick from Columbus’ Boone Jenner in the third period but returned to add an empty-net goal and extend his goal streak to six consecutive games as the Penguins created a little bit of breathing room between themselves and the Blue Jackets in the race for a playoff spot in the crowded Eastern Conference.Pittsburgh moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, dropping idle Carolina to the top wild-card spot. The Blue Jackets are currently on the outside looking in. While Korpisalo overcame his sluggish start to finish with 28 saves, his teammates couldn’t get anything by Murray.Making his sixth straight start, Murray was solid. So were the guys in front of him. Pittsburgh’s defensemen — including recently acquired Erik Gudbranson — prevented Columbus from creating consistent pressure by making sure Murray had a clear line of vision.“They’ve been stepping up big time, clearing guys out from the front and blocking shots,” Murray said. “They’re just sacrificing a lot. I can’t say enough about those guys back there.”Tortorella tried to downplay the importance of his team’s final two meetings with the Penguins, though he made a curious decision to start Korpisalo — winless since Jan. 15 — over No. 1 goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, claiming the two-time Vezina Trophy winner needed to get some rest with the stretch looming.The change in net did little to change the Blue Jackets’ fortunes. Defenseman Scott Harrington was called for tripping barely two minutes in and Pittsburgh pounced. Evgeni Malkin collected a shot behind the Blue Jackets’ net and fed Kessel at the far post.Tortorella decided to challenge the goal Lars Eller Jersey , claiming goaltender’s interference, but the call stood and Tortorella burned his only timeout before most of his players had even broken a sweat. Murray kept the Blue Jackets at bay and Bjugstad finished off a sequence of extended pressure by collecting a pass from Jared McCann then pivoting into space in the slot before beating Korpisalo between the legs with 1:13 to go in the second for his fourth goal since being brought over in a trade with Florida on Feb. 1.The chippy play between the rivals separated by three hours geographically but by considerably more in terms of stature perked up at times. Pittsburgh’s Garrett Wilson and Columbus captain Nick Foligno received fighting majors in the second period following a brawl that left Wilson’s forehead bloody. Jenner received a double-minor for high sticking Crosby early in the third.Crosby returned to finish off Columbus with his 31st, leaving the Blue Jackets with one last chance to solve the Penguins this season.“Scoring and not scoring are both contagious,” Columbus center Matt Duchene said. “All of us are obviously a little snake bit right now.”NOTES: Penguins D Kris Letang missed his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury. … Pittsburgh is 9-1 while wearing its yellow third jerseys. … The Blue Jackets were 0 for 3 on the power play. The Penguins were 1 for 5. Malkin’s assist on Kessel’s goal pushed his career point total to 997.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Columbus has issues at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets are just 17-16-2 at home this season.Penguins: Pittsburgh hasn’t lost on the road to Columbus in the regular season since Feb. 17, 2017 (4-0). ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Auston Matthews continues to make progress as he works to return from an apparent shoulder injury.The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ outdoor game against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night at Navy is the fourth consecutive game Matthews is missing since injuring his right shoulder Feb. 22 against the New York Islanders.The team has only termed Matthews day to day, which for coach Mike Babcock typically means a player being out 10 days and getting evaluated, but the 20-year-old center could reasonably return as soon as March 10 against the two-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins.”He’s skating every day Madison Bowey Jersey , working hard on his conditioning,” Babcock said. ”The big thing about this injury: you have your legs. When you come back from the previous injury, you don’t have any legs because you didn’t do anything. I think jumping right in and being ready to go when it’s time to come back will be positive for him. He won’t have to get his conditioning back. He’ll have it back already.”Matthews missed four games in November with a suspected back injury and six in December with a concussion. Despite playing just 53 games, the Phoenix area native leads Toronto with 28 goals and is second in points with 50.Going into the Maple Leafs’ game against the Capitals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, they’re 7-4-2 this season without Matthews.”It shows you how deep the team is, how talented it is and how guys are ready to step up when other guys are out of the lineup,” veteran forward Patrick Marleau said. ”We’d love to have our full lineup, have Auston in there Nicklas Backstrom Jersey , but everybody tries to pick up the slack when he’s not.”When Matthews returns after missing at least Toronto’s game Monday at Buffalo, the Maple Leafs will boast depth down the middle with him, Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Tomas Plekanec. The fourth line of Plekanec – acquired at the trade deadline from rival Montreal – with Leo Komarov and Kasperi Kapanen sets the Maple Leafs up well for the stretch run and playoffs.”It doesn’t matter who you play against,” Babcock said. ”We miss our matchup and they can go next and however. That’s important.”—