Sidney Crosby scored the tying goal in the third period and then won it with a brilliant individual effort 3 minutes, 44 seconds into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Crosby, who tied it with a power-play goal with 12:00 left in regulation, stole the puck from Thomas Vanek just outside the New York blue line, streaked down the middle between two defenseman and jammed a backhander past Anders Nilsson for his 15th goal.
Nilsson was the hard-luck loser in overtime for the second straight game. New York, who have dropped seven straight (0-5-2), gave up the lead late to Washington on Saturday.
Evgeni Malkin assisted on power-play goals by James Neal and Crosby to back Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 21 saves.
Kyle Okposo scored twice in the first period for the Islanders, who are third from the bottom in the East.
STARS 4, BLACKHAWKS 3
In Chicago, Kari Lehtonen had a season-high 47 saves, while Antoine Roussel converted a penalty shot in the third period as the Stars snapped the Blackhawks’ six-game winning streak.
Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who had dropped four of five, including consecutive shootout losses at home in their previous two games. Alex Chiasson and Erik Cole also scored.
Patrick Sharp scored his 200th goal with Chicago.
The Stars appeared to be headed for a heartbreaking collapse before Roussel skated in on Corey Crawford and was awarded a penalty shot after Niklas Hjalmarsson hacked away at him with his stick.
Roussel then beat Crawford with a backhander into the upper right corner at 3:01.
SHARKS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2
In Toronto, Mike Brown had a goal against his former team and Joe Thornton scored on a five-on-three power play, leading the Sharks to their sixth straight win.
Brad Stuart and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, winners of nine of 10. Phil Kessel netted his 200th career goal and Mason Raymond also scored in Toronto’s fifth straight loss.
BLUE JACKETS 1, LIGHTNING 0
In Columbus, Ohio, Nick Foligno scored a highlight-reel goal in the second period and Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney made it stand up as the Blue Jackets beat Lightning.
Bobrovsky, winner of the Vezina Trophy last year as the NHL’s top goalie, stopped all 18 shots before he left with an unspecified injury 4:13 into the third period. He was replaced by McElhinney, who made the last eight saves.
Tampa Bay’s Valterri Filppula’s shot just slid past the corner of the goal as time expired and the Lightning were shut out for the second game in a row.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Hurricanes 4, Capitals 1
‧ Senators 4, Panthers 2
‧ Canucks 3, Predators 1
‧ Kings 3, Ducks 2
‧ Coyotes 6, Oilers 2
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