WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- On a night when one of the franchise's resident superstars asserts himself like never before, when the team overcomes the loss of its heart-and-soul player, when its top prospect puts up seven points across the continent ... yeah, somehow, Nick Bonino pulling off a hat trick still could seem like a bigger deal.
The Penguins crushed the Jets, 7-4, Wednesday night at MTS Centre, so Bonino's three-goal contribution could conceivably get lost, especially amid Evgeni Malkin's two goals, assist and fight. Justin Schultz and Jake Guentzel scored, as well.
But if looking beyond this game, which the visitors most assuredly did not, let the record show that the undercurrent to about, oh, half of all of Mike Sullivan's assessments of his group's progress over the winter have been some variation of this: Three scoring lines are a must.
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