Penguins rout Hurricanes for sixth straight victory, acquire Brassard from Senators
>> RALEIGH: Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin each had two goals and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins routed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-1 on Friday night for their season-best sixth straight victory.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists, Sidney Crosby scored a late goal and Olli Maatta also scored. The Penguins took control with three goals — two by Kessel — in a 7:39-minute span in the second period.
Matt Murray made 27 saves for Pittsburgh, which have won 11 of 13 to overtake Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead. Since the Penguins were shut out by Carolina on Jan 4, they are 16-3-1.
They were just as busy off the ice, completing a mid-game trade in which they picked up centre Derick Brassard from the Ottawa Senators. As part of the complicated three-team deal, they sent defenceman Ian Cole to Ottawa and forward Ryan Reaves to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes.
Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves for his sixth shut-out of the season and Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal for Winnipeg, who beat St Louis 4-0.
Nic Petan and Patrik Laine also scored to help the Jets win for the fourth time in five games.
Jake Allen made 19 saves for the Blues.
In Chicago, Jean-Francois Berube made 42 saves in his first start for Chicago as the Blackhawks beat the Sharks 3-1.
Defenceman Jan Rutta, activated from injured reserve on Friday, and Nick Schmaltz scored, and Artem Anisimov added an empty-netter with 30.5 seconds left.
Timo Meier scored for San Jose. Mikael Granlund and Eric Staal each scored twice and Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in Minnesota’s 4-1 victory over New York.
Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers. In Las Vegas, William Karlsson scored two goals and Reilly Smith had three assists to lead the Golden Knights to a 6-3 victory over the Canucks. Tomas Hyka, Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Nosek and David Perron also scored for Vegas.