Penguins stay hot with Capitals’ punishment
>> PITTSBURGH: Evgeni Malkin had two goals and two assists, Phil Kessel added two goals and an assist, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night.
Bryan Rust, Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who won their fourth straight to pull within four points of first-place Washington in the crowded Metropolitan Division.
Sidney Crosby had two assists to push his scoring streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the NHL. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for Pittsburgh, who won their seventh consecutive home game by jumping on the Capitals early then pulling away late.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice to push his season total to an NHL-best 32 and Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetzov also scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby finished with 27 saves but gave up three goals in the opening 8 minutes of the third period before being pulled in favour of Phillpp Grubauer as Pittsburgh broke open a tight game.
In St Paul, Eric Staal had two goals and an assist to lead Minnesota past Vegas 5-2.
Charlie Coyle, Tyler Ennis and Jared Spurgeon also scored, Jonas Brodin had three assists and Matt Dumba added two to help the Wild win their second straight after the AllStar break. Devan Dubnyk stopped 22 shots.
Eric Haula had a goal and an assist, Nate Schmidt also scored, and Colin Miller added two assists for Vegas, which remained a point behind Tampa Bay for the best record in the league. Malcolm Subban made 30 saves.
In Raleigh, Darren Helm had a goal and two assists, Petr Mrazek stopped 36 shots, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1.
Gustav Nyquist, Danny DeKeyser and Trevor Daley also scored for the Red Wings, who won their second straight after dropping six of eight.
In Columbus, Kevin Labanc had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones stopped 28 shots to help the Sharks snap a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets.
The Sharks’ first two goals came on power plays, with Labanc getting a wide-open look at the net with a 5-on-3 advantage in the second period. Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for San Jose.
Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two in a row and five of their last seven. Boone Jenner had the lone goal as Columbus continues to struggle offensively.