The Pittsburgh Penguins notched their 15th straight victory by beating the New York Islanders 2-0 on Saturday, overcoming an early injury to Sidney Crosby.
Pittsburgh moved within two games of the NHL record streak of 17 wins set by the 1992-1993 Penguins team led by Mario Lemieux.
Pittsburgh went 15-0-0 last month, the first perfect month in league history. The Penguins also won a franchise best 12 straight at home.
Photo: Reuters
In other key games, a Nazem Kadri hat-trick led Toronto over Ottawa, Minnesota got back on the winners’ list with a shootout victory over Los Angeles, Montreal moved three points clear atop the Northeast Division by defeating the New York Rangers, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall scored three goals in a win over Vancouver and Philadelphia ended a four-game skid by beating Boston.
Pittsburgh’s goals both came in the third period from Matt Cooke and James Neal.
Crosby skated off the ice with a towel covering his mouth after a slap-shot by teammate Brooks Orpik deflected off a stick and hit the NHL’s leading scorer in the face just 1 minute, 28 seconds into the game. Crosby, who immediately fell to the ice and tossed his stick in the air, did not return.
Photo: Reuters
Another head injury for Crosby has to concern the Penguins. The team captain has missed considerable time in the past two years because of concussions.
Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul scored to supplement Kadri’s hat-trick as the Maple Leafs cruised to a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.
James Reimer made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs, who led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 after the second, before Kadri scored twice in the opening five minutes of the third period to put the game away.
Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu scored in a shootout as the Wild bounced back for a win after having their seven-game winning streak ended, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-3.
Koivu also had two assists in regulation. Matt Cullen and Zach Parise scored in regulation for the Wild.
Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Justin Williams scored for the Kings, who blew a two-goal lead.
Montreal’s Michael Ryder and Tomas Plekanec scored in the first period to set up the Canadiens’ 3-0 win over the New York Rangers.
Carey Price made 34 saves and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who swept their three games against New York this season.
The Rangers, the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, again failed to find the net.
Edmonton’s Taylor Hall set an Oilers record for the fastest hat-trick to start a game, netting three times inside 7:53 — almost five minute quicker than Wayne Gretzky’s effort in 1986 — in their 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Ladislav Smid also scored for the Oilers, who are in a four-team tie just one point behind eighth seed St Louis in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Canucks had their six-game winning streak ended.
Philadelphia won their first game in five by beating the Boston Bruins 3-1.
Mike Knuble and Matt Read scored, while Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves and Ruslan Fedotenko added an empty-netter for the Flyers, who are last in the Atlantic Division, but only four points off the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot.
Nathan Horton scored for the Bruins, who had won their previous four against the Flyers.
San Jose’s Logan Couture scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Sharks a fourth straight win, beating the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2.
Carolina kept their playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 win at the Winnipeg Jets, with Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters making 34 saves.
Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov scored his first goal of the season early in overtime as the Panthers edged the New Jersey Devils 3-2 and won back-to-back home games for the first time this season.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scored once in regulation and again in a shootout to help the Capitals rally for a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Colorado’s Tyson Barrie scored at 50 seconds of overtime to give the Avalanche a 1-0 win over the Nashville Predators.
Transgender athletes are to have an ally in the White House next week, as they seek to participate as their identified gender in high school and college sports — although state legislatures, the US Congress and the courts are all expected to have their say this year, too. Attorneys on both sides say they expect US president-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Education to switch sides in two key legal battles — one in Connecticut, the other in Idaho — that could go a long way in determining whether transgender athletes are treated by the sex on their birth certificates or by
Fickle winds produced farcical scenes yesterday on day two of the America’s Cup challenger series in Auckland, as the so-called “flying” yachts spent almost as much time in the water as above it. “I’m not sure today is a really accurate read because it’s so puffy, it’s shifty,” British sailing legend Ben Ainslie said after his Ineos Team UK maintained their perfect start to the Prada Cup series with a third straight win. The series would determine which of the 23m yachts — which fly above the water balanced on hi-tech foil arms — would challenge defending champion Team New Zealand for
DOUBLE VISION: The men’s duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed the South Korean pairing of Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae to secure their place in the final Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday easily defeated Mia Blichfeldt in her women’s singles match to advance to the finals of the Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok, while Chou Tien-chen crashed out of the tournament. Tai quickly ousted world No. 18 Blicheldt, of Denmark, in 34 minutes, winning 21-8, 23-21. The world No. 1 today must overcome Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who took down An Se-young of South Korea yesterday 21-18, 21-16. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s Chou fell to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long after a tough 66 minutes of play. While Chou, the world No. 2, bested Ng in the first set,
World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying yesterday eased past her Thai opponent to advance to the second round of the Toyota Thailand Open. The Taiwanese star toppled world No. 46 Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-11 in 29 minutes at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. “I think I played OK today. I am feeling a little better than last week,” Tai said. Tomorrow, Tai faces Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. The two have faced each other six times, with Tai beating the world No. 21 in all six matches. Tai on Sunday reached the final of the Yonex Thailand Open before losing decisively against Carolina Marin of Spain.
RSS