Letang scores in OT, Penguins beat Rangers
Kris Letang’s power-play goal 1:38 into overtime lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Letang’s ninth goal of the season came after New York’s Artemi Panarin was called for tripping Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin early in the extra period. Letang’s blast from the point helped the Penguins strengthen their hold on the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Jason Zucker scored for the ninth time in eight games for Pittsburgh and Rickard Rakell added his 23rd. Tristan Jarry made 27 saves as the Penguins improved to 3-0-1 during a five-game homestand.
Barclay Goodrow picked up his 11th goal of the season for New York and Chris Kreider’s goal midway through the third period tied it. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for the Rangers.
Dylan Larkin had a goal and two assists to help Detroit beat Boston.
Moritz Seider had a goal and an assist, and Alex Chiasson, Adam Erne and Andrew Copp also scored for the Red Wings, who built a 4-0 late in the second period, before holding on to beat the league-best Bruins.
Lucas Raymond had two assists for Detroit, and Ville Husso finished with 31 saves. The Red Wings won for just the second time in nine games.
David Pastrnak and Matt Grzelcyk each had a goal and an assist, Jake Debrusk also scored and Pavel Zacha had two assists to help
Boston pull within one 6 1/2 minutes into the third. Jeremy Swayman finished with 21 saves for the Bruins, who lost for just the second time in 13 games.
Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron scored second-period goals, and Winnipeg held on to beat Tampa Bay.
Nate Schmidt also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves — including all 14 he faced in the third period —- to lead the Jets.
Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves. Victor Hedman hit the post in the final seconds.
Jack Hughes scored one goal and set up two by Jesper Bratt as New Jersey tied Carolina atop the Metropolitan Division.
Vitek Vanecek had 32 saves for his third shutout of the season for the Devils.
New Jersey and Carolina both have 94 points, although the Hurricanes have played one fewer game.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a 4-0 loss to Vegas on Saturday. The consecutive shutout losses were the first for Carolina since January 2014. The Hurricanes are scoreless in their last eight periods.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his first NHL goal and Jiri Patera made 30 saves in his debut to lead Vegas.
Michael Amadio, Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo also scored to help the Golden Knights win for the sixth time in seven games to expand their lead over Los Angeles atop the Pacific Division to three points.
Jordan Kyrou, Jakub Vrana and Tyler Pitlick scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington stopped 26 of 30 shots as the Blues dropped to 3-7-2 since Feb. 18.