NHL results | Tuesday
Penguins 7, Wild 3
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists in his first game back from abdominal surgery and the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past Minnesota.
Crosby needed less than eight minutes to pick up his first point since before Halloween, assisting on Evgeni Malkin’s first goal of the night 7:57 in. Crosby added his sixth goal of the season in the third period when he slipped a backhand past Devan Dubnyk as the Penguins rolled to their fourth straight victory.
Blue Jackets 3, Bruins 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Elvis Merzlikins recorded his second consecutive shutout and Columbus beat Atlantic Division-leading Boston for its fourth win in five games.
Alexander Wennberg, Kevin Stenlund and Riley Nash scored for Columbus.
Sabres 4, Golden Knights 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jack Eichel scored the go-ahead goal on an end-to-end rush 7:57 into the third period in Buffalo’s win over slumping Vegas.
The goal was Eichel’s careerhigh-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
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Brock Nelson scored twice and the Islanders routed Detroit.
New York scored three times in the first eight minutes. The leagueworst Red Wings were out of it early, and Thomas Greiss made 34 saves to back the Islanders.
Maple Leafs 7, Devils 4
TORONTO — Auston Matthews had his first hat trick since scoring four times in his NHL debut and Toronto beat New Jersey.
John Tavares scored as part of a three-point night for the Leafs and Rasmus Sandin had two assists in his first game since getting called up from the minors to help reinforce the injury-riddled defense corps.
Blackhawks 3, Senators 2, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario — Jonathan Toews scored 42 seconds into overtime and assisted on Chicago’s two other goals in a win over Ottawa.
Dominik Kubalik added a pair of goals for the Blackhawks. Robin Lehner stopped 20 shots.
Jets 4, Canucks 0
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Kyle Connor scored twice, Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves in his fourth shutout of the season, and Winnipeg snapped a six-game home losing streak with a win over Vancouver.
It was the 18th shutout of Hellebuyck’s career and gave him the franchise record for shutouts, surpassing Ondrej Pavelec.
Stars 3, Avalanche 2
DENVER — Esa Lindell scored 1:54 into overtime after Jason Dickinson tied the game late in regulation and Dallas put the finishing touches on a season series sweep of Colorado.
Lindell found himself all alone in the middle of the ice and sent a wrist shot past Philipp Grubauer as the Stars rallied from an early two-goal deficit.
Coyotes 6, Sharks 3
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall each scored twice to lift Arizona over San Jose.
Lawson Crouse and Conor Garland also scored, and Garland and Derek Stepan had three points each. Arizona ended a three-game skid and has won four of five home games. Adin Hill stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Oilers 4, Predators 2
EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist and Edmonton beat Nashville.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Josh Archibald also scored, and Connor McDavid picked up three assists for the Oilers, who are 5-1-1 in their last seven.