Craig Adams scored in the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves to guide an injury-riddled Pittsburgh Penguins to a 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
With Sidney Crosby missing a ninth straight game with concussion symptoms and Evgeni Malkin also out with illness and a knee injury, Fleury’s 18th career shutout kept the Penguins five points behind front-running Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
Adams’ wrist shot at 8:35 of the final period beat New York goalie Kevin Poulin, who stopped 30 shots, as the Penguins (31-15-4) won for the fifth time in their last six games heading into this weekend’s All-Star Game.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the win, Pittsburgh once again thrived on defense and have allowed just nine goals over the past six games.
New York put an extra attacker on the ice in the final minute and attempted to surge to a goal, but Fleury and the Pens held off the assault.
The Islanders (15-26-7) have lost four of their last five.
John Tavares led the visitors with four shots.
FLYERS 5, CANADIENS 2
In Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Flyers headed into the All-Star break leading the NHL in wins after a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux and Kimmo Timonen scored power-play goals for the Flyers, whose 10-2-0 record this month has catapulted them to a league-best 33 victories.
A year ago, the Flyers clinched a playoff spot in the last game of the season. They’ll return next week with a No. 1 seed in the East in sight.
Dan Carcillo and Danny Briere also scored for the Flyers, who earned their 1,000th home victory. They are the first expansion-era team to reach that milestone.
DUCKS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2
In Columbus, All-Star goalie Jonas Hiller made 35 saves for his NHL-leading 25th win as surging Anaheim held on to beat Columbus.
LIGHTNING 2, MAPLE LEAFS 0
In Tampa, the hosts notched their fifth straight win by downing Toronto.
Dwayne Roloson made 26 saves in his third shutout within 10 games this month since being acquired from the New York Islanders.
Teddy Purcell had a goal and an assist, while Simon Gagne also scored for the Southeast Division-leading Lightning. Purcell has five points in the past two games.
WILD 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
In Chicago, Antti Miettinen scored the go-ahead goal to lift Minnesota over Chicago.
Miettinen’s goal on a splendid tip-in of Andrew Brunette’s pass broke a 2-2 tie with 3:47 left in the second. Pierre-Marc Bouchard made it a two-goal lead in the third.
Niklas Backstrom made 31 saves,while Chuck Kobasew and Martin Havlat also scored for the Wild.
Chicago’s goals came from Patrick Sharp and Troy Brouwer.
PANTHERS 4, RANGERS 3
In New York, defenseman Mike Weaver’s first goal in 42 games lifted Florida over New York.
Weaver flipped a shot from the right side that deflected off Artem Anisimov and past surprised goalie Henrik Lundqvist with 8:19 remaining. The Panthers’ only shot of the third salvaged a win for Florida, who squandered a two-goal lead earlier in the period.
It was the second time in the game Anisimov had deflected the puck past his own goalie, doing the same on Rostislav Olesz’s first-period goal.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Oilers 4, Coyotes 3
‧ Sabres 3, Senators 2, OT
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