Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Phil Kessel scores in OT, Penguins beat Kings 4-3
Phil Kessel scored a power-play goal at 3:59 of overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Evgeni Malkin pushed a loose puck from the slot to Kessel, and he finished near the side of the net for the Penguins’ fifth victory in seven games.
Tanner Pearson scored against his former team, and Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust also had goals for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 38 saves for his first victory since Oct. 25 at Calgary.
Murray stopped Tyler Toffoli’s breakaway in the first 30 seconds of overtime. The goalie also denied a quality overtime chance from Jake Muzzin in the slot.
Muzzin, Matt Luff and Alex Iafallo scored for Los Angeles, and Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots. The Kings have lost four straight and eight of 10.
Iafallo tied it at 3 with a power-play goal at 12:30 of the third period.
Murray missed the previous nine games with a lower-body injury before backing up Casey DeSmith the last two contests. He made his first start since Nov. 17 when he was pulled for the third time in six starts during a loss at Ottawa.
Murray, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, struggled through his first 11 games, posting a 4-5-1 record with a 4.08 goalsagainst average and a .877 save percentage.
Cullen’s short-handed goal opened the scoring for Pittsburgh. It was the Penguins’ second of the season and second in as many games.
Rust extended the Penguins’ lead to 2-0 later in the period when he beat Quick to the glove side with a wrist shot. Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 29th goal of the season to extend his points streak to a careerbest 14 games and had the shootout winner for Washington.
Ovechkin has 17 goals and six points during his points streak and has scored in six in a row. The Stanley Cup champion Capitals have won five in a row.
Brett Connolly and Jakub Vrana also scored, and Pheonix Copley made 25 saves. Sabres captain Jack Eichel scored twice and No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin had a power-play goal for Buffalo.
Aleksander Barkov scored at 3:24 of overtime to complete his first NHL hat trick and lift Florida past Toronto.
Barkov slipped the puck past goalie Frederik Andersen from the right side of the crease.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to help the Panthers snap a four-game skid. Mitchell Marner scored twice for Toronto, John Tavares added his team-high 20th goal and Andersen stopped 28 shots. The Maple Leafs have lost four of their past five,
The Maple Leafs tied it at 3 with 1:39 left in regulation on Marner’s second goal.
Matthew Tkachuk scored the goahead goal midway through the third period for Calgary, and David Rittich made 34 saves against Minnesota.
Mark Giordano scored short-handed in the first period for the Pacific Division-leading Flames. They are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, with 10 wins in regulation, and lead the NHL with 50 third-period goals. Jordan Greenway scored for the Wild.
Daniel Sprong scored 1:19 into overtime to lift Anaheim past Columbus.
Adam Henrique won a faceoff in the Ducks offensive zone, and Sprong beat Sergei Bobrovsky with his second goal of the night.
John Gibson stopped 36 shots for Anaheim. The Ducks have won four straight and eight of nine.
Markus Nutivaara scored for Columbus. Shea Weber scored the tiebreaking goal in Montreal’s four-goal third period and the Canadiens beat Ottawa for the third time in 12 days.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Matthew Peca each had a goal and an assist, and Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin also scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price stopped 16 shots to win his fifth straight.
Colin White and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Senators.
Mathew Barzal scored on a power play in the third period and had the only goal in the shootout to lift New York past Detroit.