Sidney Crosby scored and collected his 800th career assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a six-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night.
Crosby became the 32nd player in NHL history to reach the 800-assist plateau when he earned the secondary assist on Jason Zucker’s goal 36 seconds into the third period that put the Penguins up 5-1. The 32-year-old Crosby needed just 980 games to get to 800, the sixth-fastest ever.
Bryan Rust collected his third career hat trick for the Penguins, who tied a season high in goals.
Pittsburgh defenseman John Marino scored 48 seconds into his return after missing 11 games due to facial surgery, giving the Penguins the early lead. Conor Sheary capped off a three-goal first period outburst as Pittsburgh halted the franchise’s longest losing streak in more than eight years. Matt Murray finished with 23 saves to win for just the second time in his last seven starts.
Jayce Hawryluk, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown scored for the Senators but Ottawa couldn’t keep pace with the Penguins.
BRUINS 2, LIGHTNING 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand and NHL-leading Boston took a big stride toward winning the Atlantic Division with a win over Tampa Bay.
Marchand and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins, who opened a nine-point cushion over second-place Tampa Bay in the division standings with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Tukka Rask made 20 saves for Boston, which has won three straight and eight of 10.
Mitchell Stephens scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost five of the past six in regulation. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.
BLACKHAWKS 6, DUCKS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Dylan Strome, Alex Nylander and Patrick Kane scored on consecutive shots late in the second period, leading Chicago past Anaheim.
Strome scored twice and added an assist in the rout. Chicago won its third straight game while chasing a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference. Drake Caggiula and David Kampf also scored for the Blackhawks.
Danton Heinen and Carter Rowney scored for Anaheim, which lost for the sixth time in eight games (2-5-1).
BLUES 3, RANGERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Brayden Schenn scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves as St. Louis won its eighth straight game.
Schenn scored for the fifth consecutive game when his wraparound banked off the skate of goalie Alexandar Georgiev at 9:56. Jaden Schwartz and defenseman Colton Parayko each had a goal and had assists on Schenn’s 25th of the season.
Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who lost their third straight.
Binnington won his sixth in a row for the Stanley Cup champion Blues (40-17-10), who have the best record in the Western Conference and previously had winning streaks of seven and eight games this season.
CANADIENS 6, ISLANDERS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Brendan Gallagher had a goal and an assist in a three-goal first period, and Montreal went on to beat the Islanders.
Joel Armia also had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Petry, Charles Hudon, Paul Byron and Jordan Weal also scored for the Canadiens, and Phillip Danault had two assists. Carey Price stopped 20 shots to improve to 14-6-4 against the Islanders.
Brock Nelson and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, who have lost four straight and eight of their last 10 games (2-6-2). Thomas Greiss gave up three goals on 12 shots in the first period for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov replaced him to start the second and finished with 12 saves.
JETS 3, SABRES 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Forward Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist to lead Winnipeg over Buffalo.
Connor scored on the power play and at even strength, and he set up a short-handed goal.
Defenseman Tucker Poolman also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen scored for Buffalo midway through the second period. Carter Hutton stopped 33 shots.
WILD 3, PREDATORS 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kevin Fiala scored for the fifth straight game for Minnesota, this time against his former team, and the Wild beat Nashville to pass the Predators in the Western Conference playoff race.
Luke Kunin and Zach Parise also had goals and Alex Stalock made a season-high 37 saves for the Wild, who have won four times during Fiala’s streak.
Craig Smith scored on the power play to end Nashville’s scoreless streak at 70:02. The Predators lost their third straight game and had a seven-game winning streak against Minnesota snapped.
OILERS 2, STARS 1, OT
DALLAS (AP) — Alex Chiasson scored a power-play goal 1:08 into overtime, Mikko Koskinen stopped 42 shots and Edmonton beat Dallas.
The Oilers got a man advantage 36 seconds into the extra period when Esa Lindell was called for tripping after reaching out with his stick in front of the Dallas net. Chiasson’s ninth goal of the season, past Anton Khudobin, ended the game soon after that.
Edmonton won its third in a row. Dallas took its second overtime loss in a row.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored in regulation for Edmonton, and John Klingberg scored for Dallas.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, DEVILS 0
LAS VEGAS (AP) — William Karlsson scored his 100th career goal, Robin Lehner stopped 27 shots in his 300th career game and Vegas beat New Jersey.
Lehner, who was acquired in a trade with Chicago on Feb. 24, recorded his first shutout of the season and improved to 2-0-0 since joining the Golden Knights. He beat Buffalo is in first start for Vegas.
Max Pacioretty and Ryan Reaves also scored for the Golden Knights.
New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood, who went 6-0-1 with two shutouts, had a .967 save percentage and a league-best 1.27 goals-against-average during the month of February, made 29 saves but fell to 0-2-0 against Vegas. In his two starts against the Golden Knights this season, Blackwood has allowed seven goals.
SHARKS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Evander Kane scored two goals to give San Jose its first three-game winning streak since November with a victory over Toronto.
Stefan Noesen got the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Kane added an insurance tally 50 seconds later. Antti Suomela also scored and Radim Simek added an empty-netter.
Martin Jones made 25 saves for San Jose.
Auston Matthews scored his 46th goal of the season and assisted on a dazzling goal by Mitch Marner, but the Maple Leafs failed to get their first four-game winning streak since December. Jack Campbell stopped 33 shots.
