Crosby scores twice, Letang returns as Penguins beat Sabres
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored two goals, defenseman Kris Letang returned 12 days after the second stroke of his career and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Saturday night.
Rickard Rakell also scored to help the Penguins win their fifth straight and improve to 12-2-2 in their last 16 games. Casey DeSmith, making his first start in six games, stopped 37 shots as Pittsburgh completed a sweep of the home-and-home series after also winning 4-3 in overtime at Buffalo on Friday night.
Peyton Krebs scored for the Sabres, who lost for the third time in five games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 28 saves.
Letang, who missed five games, led the Penguins with 22:14 of ice time. The 35-year-old Letang suffered his second stroke on Nov. 28 after dealing with a series of debilitating headaches.
MAPLE LEAFS 5, FLAMES 4, OT
TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner scored 43 seconds into overtime to send the Maple Leafs to the victory.
The winner came on the power play after Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau took a high-sticking penalty on the opening faceoff of the extra period.
Marner also picked up an assist in the first period to extend his franchise-record point streak to 22 games. He has 11 goals and 19 assists within that stretch.
The Maple Leafs (18-5-6) improved to 11-0-3 in their last 14 contests, while the Flames (13-11-4) lost their second in a row.
William Nylander had two goals and three assists for Toronto, and Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists.
Noah Hanifin scored twice for Calgary, and Andrew Mangiapane had two assists.
HURRICANES 3, ISLANDERS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Stastny scored in the second period, and the Hurricanes extended their point streak to seven games.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal also scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov had 16 saves as Carolina improved to 5-0-2 on its current streak. It was Kochetkov’s second career shutout.
Ilya Sorokin finished with 28 saves as the Islanders lost for the fourth time in six games.
Stastny gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the middle period with his first goal of the season.
LIGHTNING 4, PANTHERS 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev and Steven Stamkos scored in the third period, powering Tampa Bay to the win.
Point made it 2-1 when he beat Sergei Bobrovsky from the low right circle 3:03 into the third. The center has eight goals over his last eight games, and 14 in 17 games against Bobrovsky.
Stamkos got his 496th career goal with 3:15 to play. The Lightning captain has eight goals and 12 assists during a 13-game point streak.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves, and Pat Maroon had the other Tampa Bay goal.
Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots, and Zac Dalpe scored for the Panthers.
KINGS 4, CANADIENS 2
MONTREAL (AP) — Anze Kopitar and Viktor Arvidsson scored in the first period, and the Kings held off the Canadiens.
Alexander Edler also scored for Los Angeles (15-11-4), and Adrian Kempe added an empty-netter. Pheonix Copley made 20 saves.
Mike Hoffman and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal (13-12-2), and Jake Allen stopped 31 shots.
STARS 3, RED WINGS 2, OT
DALLAS (AP) — Nils Lundkvist scored 4:29 into overtime, lifting Dallas to the victory.
Jamie Benn and Denis Gurianov also scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger got his 11th win of the season by stopping 24 shots.
The Stars won late in overtime for the second time in less than 48 hours. They had been been 0-5 in games past regulation before a 4-3 win over Ottawa on Thursday night, when Tyler Seguin scored 4:31 into OT.
David Perron scored for Detroit in his 1,000th career NHL game. Dylan Larkin also scored, and Ville Husso made 30 stops.
SENATORS 3, PREDATORS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Claude Giroux, Alex DeBrincat and Drake Batherson scored, leading Ottawa to the victory.
Shane Pinto had two assists and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for the Senators, who had dropped two in a row.
Yakov Trenin and Nino Niederreiter scored for Nashville. Juuse Saros made 30 saves.
Nashville played the third period with just four defensemen. Jeremy Lauzon did not return for the third period, and Alexandre Carrier did not play after the five-minute mark of the second. He logged just 12 shifts in the game and 7:20 of ice time.
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