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Penguins, Columbus both win by one goal

PITTSBURGH — Jack Johnson’s goal into his own net was one of the low points of a forgettable first period for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Johnson’s short-handed slap shot later in the game helped the Penguins complete another memorable comeback.

Johnson and Bryan Rust scored third-period goals as Pittsbugh rallied to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Sunday. Pittsburgh came back from a three-goal deficit for the third time this season. It’s the second time in franchise history — 2008-09 was the first — that the Penguins have had three three-goal comebacks in a season.

“Getting down 3-0 isn’t what we had in mind,” Johnson said. “We’ve been able to come back before, but that’s not a recipe for success.”

Dominik Simon and Teddy Blueger also scored for the Penguins, who have won six of their last seven games.

Sidney Crosby has points in four straight games since returning from core muscle surgery. Crosby, who had two assists on Sunday, has three goals and eight points after missing the previous 28 games.

Matt Murray rebounded from a shaky start to make 34 saves for Pittsburgh. Murray, who won his fifth straight game, made consecutive starts for the first time since November.

“We didn’t say a whole lot,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of his team’s poor start. “I just didn’t feel it was necessary to state the obvious that we didn’t have the start that we wanted. I did say that we had a lot of hockey left and we had to respond the right way.”

David Pastrnak scored his 37th goal, and Patrice Bergeron scored his 21st and Anders Bjork his eighth for Boston. Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves for the Bruins, who are winless in their last six visits to Pittsburgh.

Johnson tied the game at 3 with a short-handed goal 1:41 into the third. He beat Halak to the blocker side with a slap shot from the top of the circle.

Rust gave Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead when he scored his 21st goal of the season at 12:35 of the third. Evgeni Malkin’s pass from behind the net set up Rust in the slot.

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