Staal breaks tie as ’Canes beat Caps
RALEIGH, N.C. » Eric Staal broke a tie 51 seconds into the third period and the Carolina Hurricanes went on to beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Thursday night.
Phillip Di Giuseppe, Jeff Skinner and Andrej Nestrasil also scored, and Eddie Lack made 30 saves to help the Hurricanes end the Capitals’ winning streak at nine games.
Alex Ovechkin had his 21st goal for Washington, and Nicklas Backstrom also scored.
Staal gave Carolina a 2-1 lead, and Skinner followed with his 15th of the season. Ovechkin cut it to one with 5:44 left, and Nestrasil had an empty-net goal in the final minute. PENGUINS 5, RED WINGS 2 » Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored goals 34 seconds apart in the third period to help lift Pittsburgh over Detroit.
The Penguins have a five-game unbeaten streak at Joe Louis Arena, going 3-0-2 in that span.
Crosby got a nice pass right in front of the net from David Perron and beat Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek at 7:48 of the third, snapping a 2-2 tie.
Crosby has three goals and five assists in his last six games.
Malkin quickly made it a two-goal lead, scoring his 18th of the season at 8:22.
Justin Abdelkader kicked off the scoring, collecting a rebound of Dylan Larkin’s wraparound attempt and beating Penguins goaltender Jeff Zatkoff at 6:47 of the first period. ISLANDERS 2, SABRES 1 » Nikolay Kulemin extended his goal streak to three games, Thomas Greiss made 42 saves and New York beat Buffalo.
Frans Nielsen scored on a power play 9:35 into the second period for the Islanders.
Ryan O’Reilly scored his 15th goal of the season and Linus Ullmark made 31 saves for Buffalo. The Sabres lost their third straight.
Kulemin got his goal 1:07 into the third period with an in-tight score. O’Reilly cut the deficit with 8:42 left off Jack Eichel’s needle-threading pass into the slot during a power play.
The Sabres kept pressure on Greiss all night, starting with an early power play. With Matt Martin in the box for interference, Greiss made six saves, including three on Rasmus Ristolainen.