Sidney Crosby was dominant in his return from injury, producing a goal and two assists Wednesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins won for just the second time in 11 games, 5-1 against the visiting Dallas Stars.
Nov 21, 2018; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) handles the puck against Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) during the third period at PPG PAINTS Arena. Pittsburgh won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Crosby had missed three games because of an upper-body injury. His line, also including Jake Guentzel (one goal, one assist) and Patric Hornqvist (one goal, one assist), combined for seven points, and Hornqvist set screens on two goals.
Evgeni Malkin and Tanner Pearson also scored for Pittsburgh, which was 1-7-2 in its previous 10 games. The Penguins built a 5-0 lead through two periods.
Roope Hintz scored for Dallas, which lost its second straight.
Lightning 7, Panthers 3
Steven Stamkos had one goal and three assists as host Tampa Bay defeated Florida. Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh each had one goal and two assists for the Lightning.
Mathieu Joseph, Yanni Gourde, Adam Erne and Dan Girardi got Tampa Bay’s other goals. J.T. Miller added three assists for the Lightning.
Florida, playing its first game since 2017 All-Star center Vincent Trocheck went down with a broken right ankle, got goals from Troy Brouwer, Mike Hoffman and Aleksander Barkov. Hoffman, who also scored on the power play, extended his franchise-record points streak to 17 games.
Sabers 5, Flyers 2
Evan Rodrigues scored one goal and handed out one assist as host Buffalo beat Philadelphia for its seventh consecutive win.
Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, Johan Larsson and Sam Reinhart also scored one goal each for the Sabres, who have their longest winning streak since 2006. Reinhart added an assist while Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton stopped 23 shots.
Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds scored one goal apiece for the Flyers.
Capitals 4, Blackhawks 2
Tom Wilson and Andre Burakovsky scored first-period goals that gave Washington an early lead, and the host Capitals went on to beat Chicago.
Washington goalie Braden Holtby, the winner in relief against Montreal on Monday, made his first start in five games and finished with 37 saves. He had been sidelined due to an undisclosed upper-body injury before coming on early in the second period to beat the Canadiens.
Michal Kempny and Devante Smith-Pelly also scored for the Capitals. Brandon Saad and Erik Gustafsson replied for Chicago.
Wild 6, Senators 4
Eric Staal and Matt Dumba each scored two goals to lead Minnesota past Ottawa in Saint Paul, Minn. With the two goals, Dumba, who has 10 this season, leapfrogged Toronto’s Morgan Rielly (nine) for most by a defenseman in the NHL this season.
Jordan Greenway had a goal and an assist, and Eric Fehr also scored a goal for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Mikael Granlund had three assists, and Ryan Suter finished with two assists for the Wild.
Chris Tierney, Thomas Chabot, Christian Jaros and Colin White each scored goals and Zack Smith had two assists for Ottawa.
Hurricanes 5, Maple Leafs 2
Curtis McElhinney stopped 30 shots in his first outing against his former team as Carolina posted a victory against Toronto in Raleigh, N.C.
Trevor van Riemsdyk and Justin Williams scored in the first period, and Micheal Ferland, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov tallied in the third period for Carolina, which has won back-to-back games for only the second time in a month.
The Hurricanes registered 29 first-period shots on goal, marking a team record for a period since the relocation to North Carolina more than 20 years ago. John Tavares and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a four-game winning streak halted.
Predators 4, Blues 1
A pair of short-handed goals helped Nashville extend its lead atop the NHL standings thanks to a win over visiting St. Louis.
Filip Forsberg and Ryan Ellis each found the net while the Predators were down an attacker, with Forsberg’s goal at 13:22 of the second period standing as the game-winner.
Craig Berube made his debut as the Blues’ interim head coach after the team fired Mike Yeo on Monday. The change behind the bench didn’t provide any immediate relief, as the Blues lost for the fifth time in six games.
Rangers 5, Islanders 0
Filip Chytil scored a goal in his fifth consecutive game, Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Alexandar Georgiev recorded his first career shutout as the New York Rangers rolled past the visiting New York Islanders.
The Rangers won their seventh straight home game and are now 9-1-1 in their past 11 outings overall. Georgiev turned away 29 shots in his first-ever appearance against the Islanders.
The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Islanders versus their New York City neighbors that included a 7-5 victory at Barclays Center in Brooklyn last Thursday. Overall, the Islanders have dropped five of their past seven games.
Devils 5, Canadiens 2
Pavel Zacha scored two goals, Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist, and New Jersey defeated visiting Montreal in Newark, N.J.
Kyle Palmieri and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils, and Marcus Johansson added two assists. Keith Kinkaid made 24 saves.
Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi scored for the Canadiens. Domi has at least one point in 11 straight games. Drouin also earned an assist, and Andrew Shaw added two assists. Carey Price stopped 23 shots.
Red Wings 3, Bruins 2 (OT)
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, including the winner 49 seconds into overtime, as Detroit defeated visiting Boston.
Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for the Red Wings, who won for the ninth time in 11 games. Five of those victories have come in overtime or a shootout. Jimmy Howard made 34 saves to improve to 6-1-0 in his past seven starts.
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Chris Wagner scored for Boston, which wrapped up an injury-riddled four-game trip in which it went 1-1-2. Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots.
Golden Knights 3, Coyotes 2 (OT)
Max Pacioretty scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, and Tomas Nosek also scored as Vegas beat Arizona in Glendale, Ariz.
The Golden Knights finished with two victories on a three-game, four-day road trip that ended in Arizona.
Derek Stepan had two goals for the Coyotes, and his second on a power play tied the game at 13:11 of the third period. The Coyotes, who have lost six of eight, finished the third period on a power play but could not score again.
Flames 6, Jets 3
Mark Jankowski, Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau each collected one goal and one assist as Calgary scored five first-period goals for the second straight contest en route to a win over visiting Winnipeg.
The Flames, who wrote a similar script in a 7-2 win over the Golden Knights on Monday, are the first team to score five first-period goals in consecutive game since the St. Louis Blues managed that feat in November 1989, and only the fourth in NHL history to do so.
Calgary earned its third win in a row. Winnipeg, which got two goals from Patrik Laine, took its first regulation loss in six games (4-1-1).
Ducks 4, Canucks 3
Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist, and John Gibson made 25 saves to lead host Anaheim to a victory over Vancouver.
Ondrej Kase, Adam Henrique and Kalle Kossila also scored goals for the Ducks, who ended a three-game losing streak.
Derrick Pouliot, Nikolay Goldobin and Bo Horvat scored goals for the Canucks, who lost their seventh straight game. Goldobin and Horvat each added an assist. Jacob Markstrom finished with 33 saves.
Avalanche 7, Kings 3
Nathan MacKinnon, Vladislav Kamenev and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist, and Colorado scored on its first three power-play opportunities in winning at Los Angeles.
Patrik Nemeth, Colin Wilson, Nikita Zadorov and Matt Calvert also scored for Colorado, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists. Rantanen leads the NHL in both assists (26) and points (34). Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves for his 200th career victory.
Kyle Clifford and rookies Matt Luff and Austin Wagner scored for the Kings, who have lost their past four home games.
—Field Level Media