Penguins extent winning streak, thump Hurricanes
Jets blank Blues 4-0; Blackhawks beat Sharks
RALEIGH: Phil Kessel scored a pair of second-period goals after the Pittsburgh Penguins already had the lead in a 6-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night in Raleigh, NC. Jake Guentzel, Olli Maatta, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins, who have a six-game winning streak. Kessel assisted on the game’s first goal, so he had a threepoint game. Guentzel, who assisted on both of Kessel’s goals, and Malkin also each had three points. It continued a special week for the Kessel family. The Pittsburgh right winger’s sister, Amanda Kessel, was one of the standouts for the US goal medal team in the Olympics. The Hurricanes have gone 0-3-1 across their last four games after they had moved into playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
Jets 4, Blues 0
Connor Hellebuyck had 34 saves en route to his sixth shutout of the season to help lead Winnipeg past host St Louis. Hellebuyck, making his 10th straight start, also finished with his 32nd win of the season, second only to Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has 35. It also was the 12th shutout of his career. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal and an assist, Patrik Laine and Nic Petan scored goals and Mark Scheifele added a pair of assists for Winnipeg, which was playing its first road game since a 4-3 shootout loss at Anaheim on Jan. 25, a span of 28 days. The Jets remained in second place in the Central Division but closed to within two points of first-place Nashville.
Wild 4, Rangers 1
Eric Staal and Mikael Granlund registered two goals and assists apiece as Minnesota beat New York at Madison Square Garden. Staal recorded his 13th career game with at least four points and first since March 8, 2015, when he played for Carolina. Granlund tied a career high with his second career four-point game. For most of the game, Granlund had his third career hat trick. He was credited with Minnesota’s second firstperiod goal until a scoring change with about a minute left gave the tally to Staal.
Blackhawks 3, Sharks 1
Goaltender Jean-Francois Berube made 42 saves to earn his first victory in more than a year, and host Chicago held off San Jose. Jan Rutta, Nick Schmaltz and Artem Anisimov each scored one goal apiece for the Blackhawks. Chicago won back-to-back games for the first time since January. Timo Meier scored the lone goal for the Sharks. San Jose lost its second game in as many nights.
Golden Knights 6, Canucks 3
William Karlsson scored two goals and Reilly Smith had three assists as Vegas cruised past Vancouver in Las Vegas. Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist and Tomas Hyka, Tomas Nosek and David Perron also scored goals for Vegas, which moved one point ahead of Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay for most points in the NHL. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 30 saves for the Golden Knights, who improved to 24-5-2 at home this season. It was the 31st time this season that the Golden Knights scored at least four goals in a game, tying Tampa Bay for No 1 in the league. — Agencies