Rust’s hat trick powers 8-5 win

responded the right way.”

The turnaround began with a goal scored on a Senators power play. Unlike the other three, however, that one was scored by the Penguins.

Center Matt Cullen collected the puck at his blue line, then charged up the ice before throwing a backhander by Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson while Justin Schultz was serving an interference minor.

“That’s a big point in the game,” Murray said.

Of course, its significance was magnified by the Penguins penalty-killing problems.

They rank among the bottom five in the league, even though their personnel and scheme are pretty much unchanged from last season, when they killed 84.4 percent of the penalties they faced to place fifth in the league.

“The group, as a whole, lacks a little confidence right now,” Sullivan said.

Understandably so, considering how many times opponents have scored with a man-advantage this season.

The reassuring — or, is it troubling — thing is that they aren’t that far removed from being one of the league’s top short-handed units.

“We know that we can be better,” Cullen said. “Because we have been.”

The Penguins know they can play more stingy overall defense, too. It just hasn’t happened very often this season.

“We all know what it takes to win, as far as how you have to play defensively,” Cullen said. “We haven’t been up to that level consistently enough yet.”