WINNIPEG, Manitoba — After practice Tuesday, Nick Bonino and Mike Sullivan had a long conversation.

What were they talking about? Did Sullivan impart some great wisdom on Bonino, which led to his second career hat trick in the Penguins’ 7-4 win against the Jets Wednesday?

“We were talking about movies,” Bonino said. “Independence Day. He liked ‘2’ better, I liked ‘1.’”

Well, if debating alien invasion movies somehow gets Bonino in a goal-scoring groove, the Penguins should probably get a Netflix queue lined up over the next month or two.

Bonino scored his 10th, 11th and 12th goals of the season Wednesday, pushing him past his regular season output of nine last year.

If it feels like he’s been scoring less this season, it’s probably because, coming into the year, the freshest thing on people’s minds was the HBK bonanza of last year’s playoffs. If he stays healthy this season, Bonino is on pace for 15 goals, which would match the second-highest output of his career.

“Sometimes three go in, sometimes none go in for a few games,” he said. “Tonight was one of those nights the puck went in.”

Of course, if the Penguins want to make another deep playoff run, they’d like to recapture some of the magic from last spring. As Sullivan continues to juggle the lines down the stretch here, a lot of the focus will be who’s playing next to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (rightfully so), but it’s worth noting that the Penguins’ Stanley Cup win last year was just as much due to the red-hot tear, Bonino, Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel got on.

“We’re hopeful moving forward here down the stretch that he starts to catch fire offensively and his line, in particular, produces for us offensively,” Sullivan said. “I think when that happens, I think we’re that much harder to play against as a group.”

Bonino played tonight with Jake Guentzel and Scott Wilson, but has also seen time recently with Kessel, Matt Cullen and even a bit of Chris Kunitz.

“I think guys are used to playing with almost everybody by now,” Bonino said. “He moves guys up and down throughout the game, whatever he’s feeling. You never know what the lines are going to be for playoffs and I think whoever you end up playing with, you always have a chance to produce, you always have a chance to defend hard.”

We’ll see what the Penguins third line shakes out to be heading into the playoffs (I wouldn’t rule out an HBK reunion tour at some point) but turning Bonino’s line into a goal-scoring threat would go a long way towards making the Penguins a more lethal playoff threat.

A few other thoughts…

*** Well, first, a piece of news. Patric Hornqvist did not play tonight and Sullivan said after the game that he was diagnosed with a concussion this morning. He has returned to Pittsburgh to rehab, though Sullivan declined to rule him out for the rest of the trip.

Given that the Penguins’ next three games are in Western Canada, I doubt they’d send Hornqvist home only to have him fly 2,000 miles back a few days later. If he comes back this road trip, it’d likely be in Philadelphia next Wednesday.

***OK, back to thoughts. Nice job by Matt Murray to settle down after the first period tonight. It’s possible that he, like a lot of people, was sort of thrown out of rhythm by how unusual the first period was, but he settled in and played pretty well. Murray has shown some chinks in his armor recently (especially on his glove side) but he’s still clearly the No. 1 guy.

***I was busy writing for most of the third period, but looking at the shift chart, it appears that the mythical Sheary-Crosby-Guentzel line made a return late in tonight’s game. Especially with Hornqvist out for at least a few games (and Sestito probably having served his use) I’d be surprised if we don’t see this look over the next few games. Then again, I would’ve expected it tonight, too.

Numbers of note

90: With tonight’s win, the Penguins hit the 90-point mark for the 10th consecutive season (not counting the 2012-13 lockout year)

70: Malkin and Crosby are now tied with Patrick Kane and Brad Marchand for second in the NHL with 70 points this season

25: Wins for Murray this season, a new Penguins’ rookie record

First Published: March 9, 2017, 6:01 a.m.