1FOHVJOT FEHF 0JMFST JO TIPPUPVU
In two matchups between Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby this season, McDavid has the individual edge.
Crosby, though, has two wins. And he’ll certainly take that.
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 Friday night, giving Crosby and the Penguins a season sweep over the young star pegged as the heir apparent to Crosby’s title as best player in the league.
Phil Kessel scored the winner in the shootout.
The teams played through a frantic 3-on-3 overtime after McDavid tied the score earlier with a power-play goal, his first career goal against the Penguins.
In the teams’ two meetings this season – the first a 4-3 Penguins win in November – McDavid has four points to Crosby’s zero. Both players also scored in the shootout Friday.
Marc-Andre Fleury, making his first start since March 1, made 40 saves, continuing the strong play he showed in his relief appearance Sunday against Buffalo.
He wasn’t flawless, but in his typical acrobatic fashion, Fleury made enough saves to keep the Penguins in the game, including one on a McDavid breakaway in overtime.
Nick Bonino continued his red-hot scoring streak early in the first period with the game’s opening goal. Justin Schultz’s shot from the point created a scrum around the net and got Oilers goalie Cam Talbot off-balance. Scott Wilson corralled the rebound behind the net and fed the puck to Bonino on the right side of the goal. Bonino didn’t miss, scoring his fourth goal in the past two games after his hat trick Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
The Penguins doubled their lead later in the period. Evgeni Malkin – also on fire of late, with eight points in his last three games coming into the night – THE PUCK trickles past Florida Panthers goalie James Reimer for a Minnesota Wild goal in the third period of the Wild’s 7-4 road victory over the Panthers on Friday night. took a slap shot from the left side that trickled through Talbot’s pads and into the goal crease. The puck stopped short of the line, but as McDavid and Talbot tried to clear the puck, they knocked it into the net to give Malkin his 32nd goal of the season and put the Penguins up 2-0 at 17:25 of the first.
The Oilers finally answered back early in the second. Kris Russell’s shot from the point bounced off Fleury in front of the Penguins’ net. Zack Kassian took a swing at it, but Oilers center David Desharnais managed to control the puck and move to his backhand to beat Fleury on the rebound.
The win moves the Penguins into a tie with Columbus for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams are three points behind the Capitals for first in the Division and the overall NHL lead.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Blues 4, Ducks 3
Joel Edmundson scored the game-winner with 19 seconds left and Vladimir Tarasenko and Paul Stastny each had a goal and an assist to lead St. Louis over Anaheim.
Ryan Reaves also scored for the Blues and goalie Jake Allen had 23 saves.
Rickard Rakell, Chris Wagner and Jakob Silfverberg scored for the Ducks. Goalie John Gibson had 31 saves.
Wild 7, Panthers 4
Zach Parise scored the go-ahead goal with 5:07 left in the third period as Minnesota defeated Florida.
The Wild broke got two goals by Eric Staal and one each by Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville before Michael Granlund and Charlie Coyle scored into an empty net.
Jonathan Marchessault, Mark Pysyk, Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers. For Jagr, it was career goal No. 762.
Red Wings 4, Blackhawks 2
Tomas Tatar scored twice and Jimmy Howard made 24 saves for the win in his first game in 2017, as Detroit downed Chicago.
Xavier Ouellet and Andreas Athanasiou also scored for the Red Wings.
Artemi Panarin and Trevor Van Riemsdyk scored for the Blackhawks.
Blue Jackets 4, Sabres 3
Boone Jenner’s goal with 5:07 remaining in regulation lifted Columbus over Buffalo.
David Savard, Nick Foligno and Sam Gagner also scored for the Blue Jackets, while Evan Rodrigues, Josh Gorges and Rasmus Ristolainen scored for the Sabres in defeat. (Reuters)