Crosby crushes return

Sidney Crosby watched the Pittsburgh Penguins thrive in his absence. The longtime captain pledged he would simply focus on doing his part to keep the Penguins rolling in his return from a two-month layoff.

Crosby held up his end of the bargain, collecting a goal and three assists in his first game back from abdominal surgery as the Penguins rolled past Minnesota 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Crosby skated 17:53 after missing 28 games following abdominal surgery.

Sabres 4, Golden Knights 2 — Jack Eichel scored the go-ahead goal on an endto-end rush 7:57 into the third period for Buffalo.

The goal was Eichel’s career-high-matching 28th of the season and came in a game in which he added an assist to become Buffalo’s first player in 27 years to reach the 60-point mark in 46 or fewer games.

Islanders 8, Red Wings 2 — New York scored three times in the first eight minutes, and the leagueworst Red Wings were out of it early. Thomas Greiss made 34 saves to back the Islanders.

Lightning 4, Kings 3 — Nikita Kucherov scored late to force overtime and Steven Stamkos delivered the game-deciding goal in a shootout as Tampa Bay rallied. Stamkos and Alex Killorn also scored in regulation for the Lightning, who overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. Kucherov’s 18th goal of the season made it 3-3 with 1:15 left.

Maple Leafs 7, Devils 4 — Auston Matthews had his first hat trick since scoring four times in his NHL debut for Toronto.

Blackhawks 3, Senators 2 — Jonathan Toews scored 42 seconds into overtime and assisted on Chicago’s two other goals, as the Blackhawks rallied.