Crosby shines as Penguins trounce Stars
PITTSBURGH: Sidney Crosby returned from an upper-body injury to pick up a goal and two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins drilled the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Wednesday night.
The Pittsburgh captain missed three games after getting hurt last week, the latest setback during a forgettable early opening quarter of the season for the perennial Stanley Cup contenders.
Crosby provided Pittsburgh with a needed spark. He set up Jake Guentzel for a goal less than four minutes into the game and provided a highlight-reel marker later in the opening period when he raced to the net and smacked in a rebound past Anton Khudobin to give Pittsburgh a threegoal lead.
Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins. Two days after letting a 4-1 advantage disappear in a loss to Buffalo, Pittsburgh clamped down on the Stars. Casey DeSmith was rarely tested early and finished with 18 saves.
Mattias Janmark spoiled DeSmith’s bid for a shutout with a third-period goal. Khudobin was pulled after Pearson beat him with a slap shot on the breakaway made it 5-0. Khudobin stopped just 11 of 16 shots. Rookie Landon Bow stopped 14 shots in his NHL debut.
Steven Stamkos had a goal and three assists as hosts Tampa Bay beat Florida 7-3 to reclaim the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh each had a goal and two assists. Mathieu Joseph, Yanni Gourde, Adam Erne and Dan Giradi also scored, JT Miller had three assists, and Louis Domingue made 40 saves. The Lightning are 11-1-1 at home against Florida since the start of the 201314 season.
Panthers l eft wing Mike Hoffman extended his points streak to 17 games (10 goals, 20 points) with a late third-period power-play goal. He is the fifth player in NHL history to have a points streak of at least 17 games in his first season with a franchise.
Troy Brouwer and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers.
In New York, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 29 shots for his first career shutout, Filip Chytil scored for the fifth straight game, and the Rangers beat the crosstownrivals Islanders 5-0.
Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Cody McLeod, Neal Pionk and Kevin Hayes also scored to help the Rangers win for the ninth time in 11 games (9-1-1). Kevin Shattenkirk and Mika Zibanejad each added two assists in the Rangers’ seventh straight win at home, now by a combined 26-10 margin.
The Rangers ended an eight-game skid (0-7-1) to the Islanders, who had won 12 of the previous 13 meetings, including a 7-5 win at home last Thursday night.
In Washington, Tom Wilson, Andre Burakovsky and Michal Kempny scored to give Washington an early lead, and the Capitals held off Chicago 4-2.
Devante Smith-Pelly also scored and Braden Holtby stopped 37 shots to help Washington win their third straight. Brandon Saad, Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago.
Wilson, playing in just his fifth game after sitting out the first 16 because of a suspension, scored his second goal of the season just 54 seconds in after upending Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.