NHL back from holiday break
Crosby, Malkin lead Penguins past Devils • Rangers rally to top Senators • Wild win 11th straight
The Columbus Blue Jackets squandered a three-goal lead but recovered to win their 13th game in a row, a 4-3 home result over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Nick Foligno scored the winning power-play goal and the Blue Jackets extended their franchise-record and the NHL’s longest winning streak this season.
Foligno rebounded his own shot from just outside the crease after a pass from Alexander Wennberg midway through the third period for his 11th goal of the season.
The only winning streaks longer than the Blue Jackets’ in one season since 2005-06 are the Pittsburgh Penguins (15-0-0) in 2012-13 and the Washington Capitals (14-0-0 in 2009-10).
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won his 13th straight game and beat Boston for the first time, finishing with 37 saves.
The Bruins had handed the Blue Jackets two of their five regulation losses this season.
The Blue Jackets came out firing after the three-day holiday break, opening a 3-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the first period with goals by Scott Hartnell, Seth Jones and Matt Calvert.
But the Bruins (18-15-4) responded with goals by David Backes and Austin Czarnik to make it 3-2 at the end of the opening period.
Whether the Blue Jackets became complacent or the Bruins ratcheted up their game, a potential blowout suddenly became a close contest.
There was no scoring in the second period until 18:26, when David Krejci scored for Boston to tie it at 3-3 with his seventh goal of the season.
Penguins 5, Devils 2
Sidney Crosby recorded three points and Evgeni Malkin had a pair, including the 800th point of his NHL career, as Pittsburgh rallied for a road victory over New Jersey.
The Penguins, who also beat the Devils last Friday in Pittsburgh, erased a pair of early deficits by scoring the final four goals and raised their record to a perfect 52-0 the past two seasons when leading after two periods.
Crosby scored a goal for the fourth straight game and added two assists for the Penguins, who rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 and killed off six of seven power plays to beat the Devils for only the third time (3-7) at the Prudential Center since 2012/13.
Crosby has 41 points in 30 games (25 goals, 16 assists), while Malkin also has 41 points in 36 games (15-26), tied for second in the scoring race behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (13-2942 points).
PA Parenteau and Adam Henrique scored for the slumping Devils, who are 1-8-1 in their last 10.
Rangers 4, Senators 3
Nick Holden’s second goal of the night, a tie-breaking tally early in the third period, helped New York snap a two-game losing streak.
Holden’s winner came on a wraparound, as Ottawa goalie Mike Condon allowed the shot to slide under his left leg.
Derek Stepan also scored twice for the Rangers, goaltender Antti Raanta made 33 saves and Ryan McDonagh contributed three assists.
The Senators saw their four-game winning streak end even though they had a 2-0 lead just over three minutes into the game.
Antti Raanta, who allowed goals on the first two shots he faced from the Senators, recovered to make 33 saves for the win, improving to 9-4-0 this season. Raanta started in place of Henrik Lundqvist, who didn’t dress because of the flu.
Wild 3, Predators 2 (OT)
The Minnesota franchise-record winning streak improved to 11 games in dramatic fashion when defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored in overtime to lift the Wild past Nashville.
Spurgeon ripped a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle past Predators’ goalie Pekka Rinne off a feed from Jordan Schroeder as the Wild improved to 22-8-4 with their 10th road win of the season.
Filip Forsberg and Reid Boucher scored for Nashville, which has lost two straight.
The Predators are 0-3 in games decided in the 3-on-3 overtime this season and 2-15 since the format was introduced at the start of last season.
Islanders 4, Capitals 3
Andrew Ladd and Anders Lee scored 43 seconds apart in the third period as the New York Islanders beat Washington.
The crowd was still celebrating Ladd’s goal when Lee picked up a loose puck at center ice and beat Braden Holtby on a breakaway.
Ladd also scored in the second period while Cal Clutterbuck scored in the first for the Islanders, who have won three straight.
Sabres 4, Red Wings 3
Evander Kane scored twice, including the winning goal in the third period, and Buffalo beat Detroit to end a four-game losing streak.
Kane has eight goals this season, all coming in his past 10 games.
Detroit is 3-10-3 in its past 15 home games.
Jets 3, Blackhawks 1
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 shots to defeat Chicago for the third time this season as Winnipeg secured a road win over the Blackhawks.
The Jets have won four of their last five contests.
Artem Anisimov returned for Chicago after missing three games with an upper-body injury to post his 15th goal, but he couldn’t help the Blackhawks avoid losing three in a row for the first time this season.
Sharks 3, Ducks 2 (OT)
Brent Burns scored in overtime off a centering pass from Joe Pavelski and San Jose beat Anaheim to win their third straight game and sixth of their last seven.
Anaheim fell to 1-6-1 in extra time this season, including 0-6 in the five-minute overtime period, while San Jose improved to 6-1.
Flames 6, Avalanche 3
Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund had two goals and an assist apiece, and Calgary beat slumping Colorado.
Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and Jarome Iginla scored for Colorado, which has now lost nine straight at home for the first time since moving to Denver and is in danger of going 0-7 in December.
Stars 3, Coyotes 2
Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn each had a goal and an assist to lift Dallas over Arizona.
Dallas improved to 6-4-1 in its last 11 games since a gut-check 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh on December 1.
Benn leads the Stars in points with 30 and has 10 goals. Dallas is 9-0-2 this season when leading after two periods.
Arizona lost its fifth straight game and fourth consecutive at home. (Reuters)