Penguins top Flyers before 67,318 fans at windy Heinz Field
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored his NHLleading 34th goal and Matt Murray made 35 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 at blustery Heinz Field on Saturday night.
Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino and Chad Ruhwedel also scored for Pittsburgh, which thrilled the capacity crowd of 67,318 at the home of the NFL’s Steelers by capitalizing on some shaky goaltending by Michal Neuvirth. Jake Guentzel picked up two assists, and the Penguins drew within five points of Metropolitan Division-leading Washington.
Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Philadelphia, but Neuvirth stopped just 25 of 29 shots as the Flyers dropped to 0-3 in outdoor games.
Wind gusts became so disruptive late that the NHL decided to have the teams switch sides midway through the third period in an effort to even out the amount of time the teams shot in each direction.
KINGS 4, DUCKS 1: In Los Angeles, Jonathan Quick made 32 saves in his return from a groin injury and Tyler Toffoli scored two of Los Angeles’ four third-period goals in a victory over Anaheim.
Quick missed 59 games after injuring the groin in the first period of the season opener Oct. 12 against San Jose.
RANGERS 4, DEVILS 3 (OT): In Newark, N.J., Mika Zibanejad scored 1:16 into overtime as New York rallied to beat New Jersey.
Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg and Adam Clendening also scored for the Rangers. Antti Raanta had 36 saves.
PREDATORS 5, CAPITALS 2: In Nashville, Tenn., Filip Forsberg scored the winning goal and had two assists as Nashville scored three times in the second period in beating Washington.
Forsberg missed becoming the first player in NHL history with a hat trick in three consecutive games.
BLUE JACKETS 7, ISLANDERS 0: In Columbus, Ohio, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno each scored twice, sending Columbus to a romp over New York.
The Jackets didn’t show any rust in their first game back following their five-day break, unlike many teams that have struggled coming out of the bye week this season.
CANADIENS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 (OT): In Toronto, Andrew Shaw scored 1:06 into overtime as Montreal beat Toronto for its 14th straight win over the Leafs.
Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk had the other goals for the Canadiens, who increased their Atlantic Division lead to four points over Ottawa.
AVALANCHE 5, SABRES 3: In Denver, Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and an assist, and Jeremy Smith made 34 saves for his first NHL win as Colorado beat Buffalo.
The lowly Avalanche saw their three-goal lead twice cut down to one but held the Sabres scoreless in the third period for only their second victory in the last 10 games.
SHARKS 4, CANUCKS 1: In Vancouver, British Columbia, Patrick Marleau scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and Martin Jones made 35 saves, helping San Jose beat undermanned Vancouver.
The Canucks were without five players because of the mumps, or symptoms associated with the highly contagious virus.