In Windsor, Ontario, Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang bounced back from being bloodied by a hit to score a controversial overtime winning goal to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
With the game tied at 3-3, Canadiens goalie Carey Price appeared to smother the puck and his teammates let down their guard expecting a whistle, but James Neal poked the puck free to Letang who scored the winner to leave the home side furious.
The Penguins opened the scoring after just 21 seconds through Evgeni Malkin, but Montreal responded with goals from Travis Moen, Pacioretty and Erik Cole to take a 3-1 lead.
Photo: Reuters
Pascal Dupuis scored late in the second period to start the Penguins comeback and Jordan Staal forced overtime with the tying goal with less than five minutes remaining in the third period.
BLACKHAWKS 2, KINGS 1
In Los Angeles, the Chicago Blackhawks maintained leadership of the NHL’s Western Conference with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Jonathan Toews scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Andrew Brunette also found the net for Chicago, which has won seven straight against the Kings.
Jarret Stoll ended a 17-game scoring drought by netting the sole goal for Los Angeles.
RANGERS 2, FLYERS 0
In New York, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for the shutout as New York extended their best home start in nearly 20 years by beating Philadelphia.
After a scoreless first period that featured a fight four seconds into the game, Brad Richards scored a power-play goal 54 seconds into the second. He had a goal disallowed 24 seconds earlier.
Carl Hagelin also scored for New York, notching his first ever NHL goal.
CANUCKS 3, SHARKS 2
In San Jose, California, Henrik Sedin and Andrew Alberts scored goals less than a minute apart in the second period as Vancouver showed they still had the edge on San Jose, winning the first meeting between the teams since last year’s Western Conference finals.
Manny Malhotra also scored to lead the Canucks to their season-best fourth straight victory.
Andrew Murray and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who had won four straight.
COYOTES 3, STARS 0
In Glendale, Arizona, Mike Smith stopped 26 shots for his second shutout, leading Phoenix to their first win over Dallas this season after a pair of overtime losses.
Smith posted his 13th career shutout and needed to stop only 14 shots through the first two periods.
Mikkel Boedker scored in the first, Ray Whitney in the second and Taylor Pyatt in the final period for the Coyotes, who took 14 of their 22 shots in the opening session.
In other NHL play, it was:
‧ Red Wings 4, Predators 1
‧ Lightning 5, Panthers 1
‧ Sabres 5, Capitals 1
‧ Bruins 4, Jets 2
‧ Avalanche 5, Oilers 2
‧ Islanders 3, Devils 2
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