Pittsburgh’s James Neal scored a hat-trick to fire the ruthless Penguins to an 8-4 mauling of the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, moving the home team within a point of the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers.
The Penguins, who have scored 16 goals against Winnipeg in their last two games after last month’s 8-5 win, put the visiting Jets to the sword with four goals in the second period.
Neal took the spotlight with a goal in the first and two in the second, while Evgeni Malkin scored twice and had three assists to stretch his NHL-leading points total to 93.
Photo: AFP
Malkin’s goals gave him 201 for his NHL career.
“To have five points is unbelievable,” Malkin told reporters. “We have a lot of talent. We have a great team. We can play physical and we can play fast.”
Tyler Kennedy also scored twice, while Sidney Crosby had four assists, bringing his tally to nine in four games since returning from injury.
It was Crosby’s first game in front of his home crowd in three months and his outing helped the Pens (45-21-6) rebound from Sunday’s defeat to Philadelphia, which ended their 11-game win streak.
Bryan Little scored twice for Winnipeg (34-31-8), who stayed four points behind Washington for the final playoff spot in the conference.
“It’s frustrating,” Jets forward Tanner Glass said. “At the same time, that’s a great team. When you start a game with Crosby as your third-line center, it just shows you right there the pace they’re going to come at you with.”
Jim Slater and Tim Stapleton also scored for the Jets against Pittsburgh rookie goaltender Brad Thiessen, who made 26 stops in the win.
Winnipeg netminder Ondrej Pavelec was chased in the second period after allowing five goals. Chris Mason surrendered the final three.
DEVILS 1, SENATORS 0
In Ottawa, Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 400th NHL goal and backup goalie Johan Hedberg made it stand up in New Jersey’s slim away victory.
While working the point on the power play, Kovalchuk took a pass from defenseman Marek Zidlicky and fired a slap shot past goalie Ben Bishop with 2:40 left in the second period. The calm Kovalchuk kept his arms down and waited at the blue line for his teammates to come to him for a subdued celebration.
Kovalchuk also has 376 assists in 771 NHL regular-season games.
Subbing for Martin Brodeur, who lost 4-2 at the New York Rangers on Monday, Hedberg made 34 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. He saved a first-period penalty shot by Erik Condra.
Bishop made 33 saves.
ISLANDERS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2
In Toronto, Matt Moulson scored a power-play goal with just over six minutes remaining and the New York Islanders handed Toronto their eighth straight home loss.
P.A. Parenteau’s breakaway goal less than two minutes later stretched New York’s lead and caused a cascade of boos from disgruntled Maple Leafs fans. Moulson made it 5-2 with an empty-net goal.
It was another poor performance for the Maple Leafs, who were beaten 8-0 at Boston on Monday in their worst loss of a disappointing season. Toronto have recorded only 27 total shots in the back-to-back losses, including 14 against New York.
Josh Bailey and David Ullstrom also scored for the Islanders (30-32-11). John Tavares had three assists and Parenteau added two.
Phil Kessel and Matthew Lombardi had goals for Toronto (32-34-8), who are 4-15-2 since Feb. 7.
OILERS 6, PREDATORS 3
In Nashville, Ales Hemsky scored three goals for his first hat-trick in the NHL and Edmonton beat Nashville.
Darcy Hordichuk, Ryan Jones and Sam Gagner also had goals and Devan Dubnyk made 40 saves for Edmonton. David Legwand scored twice for Nashville and Patric Hornqvist added a goal and an assist.
Pekka Rinne was pulled in the second period by Predators coach Barry Trotz after allowing three goals on seven shots. Anders Lindback played the rest of the way and stopped 10 of 12 shots.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Avalanche 2, Flames 1, OT
‧ Panthers 2, Flyers 1
‧ Blackhawks 5, Blue Jackets 1
‧ Stars 4, Coyotes 3, SO
‧ Kings 5, Sharks 2
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