Comrie makes 28 saves, Lambert scores 1st NHL goal as Jets top Penguins 5-2

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Rookie forward Brad Lambert scored his first NHL goal and backup goalie Eric Comrie made 28 saves as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 Saturday.

Kyle Connor scored twice, including an empty-net goal, and Gabriel Valardi and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Winnipeg (9-3-0).

Sidney Crosby and Blake Lizotte scored for Pittsburgh (8-3-2). Arturs Silovs made 29 saves.

Vilardi scored 15 seconds into the game, grabbing the rebound of a shot by Josh Morrissey and banking the puck off Silovs into the net.

Lambert struck at 2:43 of the first. He was to Silovs’ right and teammate Parker Ford carried the puck behind the Penguins' net and attempted a wrap around. The puck squirted through the crease and Lambert converted.

The Jets burst out of the gate in the second period, too. Namestnikov and Jonathan Toews rushed into the Penguins’ zone and, after Toews hesitated with the puck for a split second, the Russian winger deflected a pass behind Silovs at 1:17. It was Namestnikov’s sixth of the season.

Connor scored on a penalty shot at 12:13 of the second. Silovs misplayed the puck in the Penguins’ corner during a Pittsburgh power play and threw his stick when Connor lunged for the puck in front of an empty net.

Connor beat Silvos with a backhand shot to the glove side for what was technically a short-handed goal for his seventh of the season.

Crosby scored Pittsburgh’s first goal with 12 seconds remaining in the second, deflecting Erik Karlsson’s point shot behind Comrie.

The Penguins pulled within two goals just after the halfway point of the third. Lizotte crashed Comrie’s crease for his second goal of the season.

The Penguins kept one of the NHL’s top power plays off the scoresheet, killing all three of their penalties.

Penguins: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

Jets: At the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday in the opener of a six-game trip.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor (81) scores on a penalty shot against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (37) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Brad Lambert (93) scores on Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (37) as Harrison Brunicke (45) and Connor Dewar (19) defend during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (37) who was caught out of his net, throws his stick at Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor (81) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) makes the pass in front of Winnipeg Jets goaltender Eric Comrie (1) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Brad Lambert (93) celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.

The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)