Crosby leads injury-hit Penguins over Devils
Sidney Crosby scored twice to move into a tie for the NHL lead with 37, Carter Rowney added the first goal of his NHL career and the short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Friday night.
Crosby added an assist to give him 640 in his career and move him into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the secondmost in franchise history. Nick Bonino, Jake Guentzel and Phil Kessel also scored for Pittsburgh as the Penguins leapfrogged Columbus to move into second-place behind Washington in the Metropolitan Division.
Matt Murray stopped 32 shots for Pittsburgh as the Penguins relied on Crosby and some fresh faces to overcome the loss of Evgeni Malkin, who is out with an upper-body injury.
Kyle Palmieri matched Crosby with two goals for New Jersey. Stefan Noesen and Beau Bennett also scored for the Devils. Keith Kinkaid finished with 37 saves but New Jersey fell to 0-4 against the defending Stanley Cup champions this season.
Aleksander Barkov scored a third-period goal and added the winner in the shootout as the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers. Jaromir Jagr had two assists and passed Hall of Famer Gordie Howe for the most points after turning 40 with 269. Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and assist and Jussi Jokinen also scored for Florida. James Reimer made 29 saves for the Panthers, who are trying to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Reimer made his seventh straight start with Roberto Luongo out because of a lower-body injury. Mats Zuccarello scored two goals and J.T. Miller also tallied for the Rangers, who were unable to hold an early 2-0 lead.
Mark Giordano had a goal and two assists, Brian Elliott stopped 24 shots in his 10th straight win and the Calgary Flames beat the Dallas Stars. Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik also scored to help Calgary bounce back from a loss to Boston two nights earlier — with Elliott home with the flu — that snapped the Flames’ 10-game winning streak. Calgary, 12-1-1 in its last 14, jumped past Edmonton into third place in the Pacific Division.