Carter gets first Penguins goal
Jeff Carter picked up his first goal in Pittsburgh as part of a first-period deluge and the Penguins held on for a 7-6 victory over New Jersey on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh led 6-0 entering the third period at home before the Devils put together a furious rally. Andreas Johnsson pulled New Jersey within one with 41 seconds remaining but the Devils couldn’t generate another shot with the goaltender pulled.
Carter, acquired from the Kings at last week’s trade deadline, beat Scott Wedgewood with a blast from between the circles that finished off a four-goal opening period.
Bryan Rust, Mike Matheson and Brian Dumoulin also scored in the first for Pittsburgh, which bounced back from a dismal loss to Buffalo on Sunday night to move within a point of Washington and the New York Islanders for first place in the East Division.
ISLANDERS 6, RANGERS 1 » Josh Bailey scored twice, Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and three assists, and the Islanders beat the Rangers. Jordan Eberle and JeanGabriel Pageau each had a goal and an assist, and Brock Nelson also scored. Semyon Varlamov stopped 25 shots to help the Islanders win their second straight and seventh in the last 10 to pull into a tie with Washington atop the East Division.
HURRICANES 4, LIGHTNING 1 » Nino Niedereitter, Jordan Staal and Steven Lorentz scored second-period goals to lead Carolina to a victory at Tampa Bay. Carolina remains tied for first place in the Central Division with the Florida Panthers. The Hurricanes have played two fewer games. Florida and Carolina open a two-game set on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida.
STARS 5, RED WINGS 2 » Rookie Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist in the first period and Dallas beat Detroit to sweep back-to-back games against the Red Wings and extend their winning streak to four games. Joe Pavelski, Tanner Kero, Blake Comeau and Jamie Oleksiak also scored for the Stars (19-14-12), who finished a 4-0-1 homestand. Dallas has a season-best eight-game point streak (6-02). The Stars are one point behind fourthplace Nashville for the Central Division’s last playoff spot with two games in hand. PANTHERS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1 » Sam Bennett scored two goals and Spencer Knight made 33 saves in his NHL debut to lift Florida over visiting Columbus. Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, Aleksander Barkov scored his first goal in four games, and Ryan Lomberg also scored a goal for Florida. Anthony Duclair had three assists. The Panthers are 7-0-1 against the Blue Jackets this season. BRUINS 2, SABRES 0 » Tuukka Rask recorded his first shutout of the season and Boston extended its winning streak to five games with a victory at Buffalo. Rask made 32 saves including a highlight-reel save on Sabres rookie Dylan Cozens in the first period that helped give the Bruins their seventh win in nine games.