Kessel lifts Penguins over Oilers in shootout
EDMONTON, Alberta: Phil Kessel scored the shootout winner in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 NHL victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 40 saves, Nick Bonino and Evgeni Malkin scored in regulation for Pittsburgh, while Sidney Crosby had a goal in the shootout. The Penguins have won four games in a row.
David Desharnais and Connor McDavid countered for Edmonton, with McDavid getting the Oilers’ lone goal in the tiebreaker. They have lost two straight.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring six minutes into the first period. Oilers goalie Cam Talbot was down on a rebound, allowing Scott Wilson to feed it in front and give Bonino an easy goal.
The Penguins went up 2-0 with 2 1/2 minutes to play in the second. A shot got behind Talbot and was rolling slowly into the net before McDavid tried to kick the puck to safety, only to have it hit Talbot’s pads and go in. Malkin was credited with the goal.
Edmonton cut into the lead five minutes into the second period when Desharnais poked a loose puck under Fleury for his first goal with the Oilers.
The Oilers tied it 13 minutes into the second when McDavid made no mistake on a rebound opportunity, scoring his 23rd goal of the season and 75th point.
BLUE JACKETS 4, SABRES 3: Boone Jenner broke a tie with 5:07 left and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ victory over the Sabres.
Nick Foligno and Sam Gagner had power-play goals, and David Savard also scored for the Blue Jackets. They have won three straight and seven of their last 10. Bobrovsky had a threegame shutout streak broken, but still got his NHL-leading 36th victory.
Jenner corralled a loose puck and wrapped it around goalie Robin Lehner, and the Blue Jackets held on for their 43rd victory to tie the franchise season record set in 2013-14.
Josh Gorges scored his first goal in more than a year, Evan Rodrigues and Rasmus Ristolainen also connected for Buffalo, and Lehner stopped 35 shots. The Sabres have lost four straight.
RED WINGS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2: Tomas Tatar had two goals and an assist while Jimmy Howard made 24 saves in his return from a knee injury to help Detroit beat Chicago. Howard saw his first NHL action since injuring a knee Dec. 20 at Tampa Bay.
Tatar scored what proved the winner late in the second period and added an insurance goal in the third period to end Detroit’s three-game losing streak. He has a team-high 17 goals.
Andreas Athanasiou and Xavier Ouellet also scored for Detroit.
The Blackhawks lost for the second straight night and had their clubrecord road winning streak end at eight games. Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Artemi Panarin scored for Chicago.
WILD 7, PANTHERS 4: Zach Parise scored the go-ahead goal with 5:07 left and Minnesota pulled away to beat reeling Florida.
Mikael Granlund scored an emptynet goal with 1:10 left, his teamleading 22nd of the season, and Charlie Coyle added another emptynetter with 2.5 seconds left.
Eric Staal scored twice for Minnesota, while Jason Pominville and Jason Zucker also connected. The Western Conference-leading Wild won for the first time in three games.
The Panthers have lost seven of their past eight. Jaromir Jagr scored his 762nd NHL goal. Mark Pysyk had a goal and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Marchessault also scored.
4, DUCKS 3: Joel Edmundson scored with 20 seconds left and Jake Allen made 23 saves in St. Louis’ victory over Anaheim.
Paul Stastny, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Reaves also scored to help the Blues win their third straight.
Jakob Silfverberg, Chris Wagner and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks.