Penguins win 10th straight at home, Fleury makes 28 saves as Knights beat Oilers
>> PITTSBURGH: Zach Aston-Reese broke a third-period tie with a power-play goal and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 on Thursday night for their 10th straight home victory.
Two nights after scoring his first two NHL goals, Aston-Reese gave the Penguins the lead at 5:24 minutes of the period. Kris Letang’s point shot through traffic clipped Aston-Reese’s skate and went between goalie Jonathan Quick’s pads.
The Penguins’ home streak is the longest since a franchise-record 13-game run during the 2013-14 season. The Penguins haven’t lost in Pittsburgh since Jan 4, a 4-0 setback to Carolina. Pittsburgh have won eight of 10 overall and 13 of 17.
Ryan Reaves scored in the second period, and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-netter. Matt Murray, playing his 100th NHL game, stopped 34 shots.
Dion Phaneuf scored a power-play goal in his Kings debut two nights after being acquired from Ottawa along with Nate Thompson in a trade for Marian Gaborik and Nick Shore.
Quick finished with 36 saves for the Kings, losers of three straight.
In Las Vegas, William Karlsson got the 100th point of his career with his 30th goal of the season as Vegas beat Edmonton for the first time in three meetings.
Ryan Carpenter, Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula also scored in the Golden Knights’ 4-1 win, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots to improve to 18-6-2 and move seven wins shy of 400 for his career.
Leon Draisaitl scored Edmonton’s lone goal, his 17th of the season, and Cam Talbot finished with 24 saves.
Vegas improved to 14-1-1 against Pacific Division teams in their inaugural season, while avenging their two losses, which both came against the Oilers. The 8-2 loss in Edmonton on Nov 14 still ranks as the worst loss in Vegas’ 57-game history.
In New York, Jaroslav Halak stopped 50 shots for his first shut-out of the season as the Islanders kept up their recent mastery of the crosstown-rival Rangers with a 3-0 victory.
Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle and Thomas Hickey each scored for the Islanders, who have won all three meetings this season and 10 of the last 11. Rookie sensation Mathew Barzal had three assists to help the Islanders move into a tie with Columbus one point behind Carolina for the second wildcard in the Eastern Conference.
Halak, who faced 51 shots in a loss to Columbus on Tuesday night, had 15 saves in the first period, 14 in the second and another 21 in the third for his 42nd career shut-out.
Henrik Lundqvist finished with 32 saves for the Rangers, who have lost six of eight overall and dropped to 0-4-1 in five visits to Barclays Center since the Islanders moved to the Brooklyn arena in 2015. The Rangers remained four points behind the Hurricanes, who lost at New Jersey.