Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Sidney Crosby had two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to 10 with a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
Niskanen’s goal at 11 minutes, 58 seconds came nine seconds after the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins killed a four-minute penalty.
Their win streak is the second-longest this season.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves, while Crosby earned his NHL-leading 36th and 37th assists for the Penguins, who were without reigning Most Valuable Player Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) for a sixth game.
Braden Holtby made 34 saves for Washington.
Alex Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the second period, but Pittsburgh tied it three minutes later when Paul Martin scored his sixth of the season. It was the Penguins’ league-leading 28th goal on a power play.
RANGERS 3, DEVILS 2
In Newark, New Jersey, Michael del Zotto scored a short-handed goal and set up Rick Nash’s game winner to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over struggling New Jersey.
Carl Hagelin also scored and Henrik Lundqvist had 29 saves as the Rangers won their second game in two nights after a three-game losing streak. New York moved into a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Travis Zajac and Anton Volchenkov scored for New Jersey, who lost their third in a row (0-2-1) and slipped into a tie with New York, who have a game in hand.
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur was on the bench for the first time in a month, but he is expected to play today. New Jersey are 3-8-2 since he went down.
Johan Hedberg, who has started all 13 games since Brodeur sustained a pinched nerve in his back, made 19 saves.
SENATORS 5, ISLANDERS 3
In Uniondale, New York, Sergei Gonchar scored with a minute left for Ottawa, who netted four goals in the third period to beat the New York Islanders.
Gonchar’s second goal of the season came on a blast from the point to make it 4-3 and Guillaume Latendresse added an empty-net goal to seal the win. Jakob Silfverberg and Zack Smith scored in a 68-second span early in the third period to tie the game after the Islanders led 3-1.
Ottawa have won three straight.
New York’s Josh Bailey scored the go-ahead goal 14 seconds into the second period and Lubomir Visnovsky extended the Islanders’ lead to two goals.
Keith Aucoin appeared to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead at 7:22, but the goal was disallowed because he kicked the puck past goalie Ben Bishop.
Ottawa’s Matt Kassian opened the scoring at 6:23 with his first goal of the season and first with the Senators.
KINGS 3, COYOTES 2
In Los Angeles, Jonathan Bernier made a career-high 40 saves, while defenseman Drew Doughty ended a 32-game, regular-season goal drought as Los Angeles beat Phoenix.
Shane Doan scored twice in the third period for the Coyotes, who were shut out in their three previous games.
Bernier extended Phoenix’s scoreless drought to 245 minutes, 32 seconds since rookie Rob Klinkhammer’s goal against Jonathan Quick in the Coyotes’ 5-2 win over the Kings on Tuesday last week. The Coyotes had been stopped on 133 consecutive shots before Doan’s first goal.
Dustin Penner and Jarret Stoll also scored for the Kings, who have won 12 of 16 games and 11 of 12 at home.
Stoll connected on a power play with 6:14 remaining.
Phoenix’s Mike Smith, who was pulled from Monday’s game after giving up four goals on 22 shots, made 26 saves in the rematch against an offense that came in averaging four goals at home.
PANTHERS 4, HURRICANES 1
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Tomas Fleischmann, Marcel Goc and Shawn Matthias scored 6:12 apart in the third period to lead Florida past Carolina.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots and Filip Kuba had two assists.
The last-placed Panthers scored the first three goals and held on to snap their six-game losing streak.
Markstrom was 2:33 from a shutout when Jordan Staal scored for Carolina.
Dan Ellis stopped 40 shots for the Hurricanes, who lost their fourth straight.
BLUE JACKETS 4, PREDATORS 3
In Columbus, Ohio, Sergei Bobrovksy shook off a slap-shot to his mask and withstood two late goals, while Mark Letestu had a goal and an assist as Columbus beat struggling Nashville to extend their franchise-record point streak to 11 games.
Fedor Tyutin, Nikita Nikitin and Derick Brassard also scored for Columbus, who are on a 7-0-4 run. Vinny Prospal added three assists.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Sabres 3, Canadiens 2, OT
‧ Jets 3, Bruins 1
‧ Canucks 3, Blues 2
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