PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins sped past the slumping Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday night, moving three points ahead of Columbus in the race to have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Patric Hornqvist picked up his 20th goal of the season, Matt Murray finished with 37 saves for the Pens.
Jake Guentzel and Carter Rowney also scored for Pittsburgh. Brian Dumolin added his first regular season goal in more than two years as the Penguins
Pittsburgh won its third straight to inch closer to opening its Stanley Cup defense at home thanks in large part to Murray and offensive contributions from unexpected places.
Brandon Dubinsky scored short-handed for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots but the Blue Jackets dropped a season-high fourth straight and have ceded control of the second seed in the Metropolitan Division to Pittsburgh with three games to go.