DALLAS (AP) — Jared McCann scored twice, including the go-ahead goal on a spinning short-handed play in the third period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday night.

McCann has 11 goals in 26 games since coming over in a trade with Florida, and now leads the Penguins with three short-handed goals. He has four overall this season.

The Penguins stayed even with the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division with 93 points, a point behind Washington.

The Stars finished a five-game homestand with their fourth loss, three in regulation. Dallas holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference by two points over Colorado with Minnesota a point behind the Avalanche.

Dallas was looking for its first lead after Jack Johnson was called for holding and the Penguins were just trying to clear the puck when Teddy Blueger poked it away from John Klingberg at center ice. McCann took the pass as he was spinning and flipped the puck over Anton Khudobin.

Matt Murray, who made 29 saves, kept the Penguins in front by stopping a shot from Tyler Seguin and keeping the puck between his legs behind him as he was sprawled on the ice with Alexander Radulov trying to poke it into the net.

The Stars had a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 80 seconds after Bryan Rust was called for holding, but couldn’t get one past Murray. Khudobin had 27 saves.

Jake Guentzel opened the scoring with his team-leading 38th goal for Pittsburgh in the first period.

The Stars scored two tying goals in the second. Seguin easily beat Murray on a cross-ice feed from Radulov barely a minute into the period. Andrew Cogliano pulled Dallas even at 2-2 with 80 seconds left by beating Murray in transition after taking a pass in stride from Klingberg.

The Penguins had a goal waved off in the second period when Teddy Blueger was called for goalie interference Erik Gudbranson’s shot from outside the circle. Gudbranson’s chance came after a wild scramble in front of the net ended with Taylor Fedun sweeping the puck out the crease when Khudobin was beaten.

NOTES: Stars D Jamie Oleksiak was a healthy scratch in his first game against Pittsburgh since the Penguins traded him back to Dallas in January. The Stars sent Oleksiak to the Penguins in December 2017. Both deals involved a fourth-round pick. … Not long after scoring the game’s first goal, Guentzel was stopped on a one-timer right in front of Khudobin. … Stars F Jason Spezza was a healthy scratch for the second time in three games.

UP NEXT

Penguins: Finish four-game trip Monday at the New York Rangers.

Stars: Start four-game Canadian swing Monday at Winnipeg.

 

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sean Couturier beat Matt Murray with 3 seconds remaining in overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers put together an improbable rally to edge the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Sunday night.

James van Riemsdyk tied the score with 18 seconds left in regulation when Murray’s glove couldn’t quite reach van Riemsdyk’s wrist shot from the slot. The team traded a flurry of quality chances in the extra period before Couturier danced around Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby on the rush then sent a shot over Murray’s stick to give Philadelphia’s fading playoff hopes a needed jolt.

Carter Hart finished with 41 saves for his first victory since Feb. 17 as the Flyers put together a comeback that echoed their stunning rally in their stadium series meeting with the Penguins last month. Philadelphia scored twice in the final 3:04 of regulation before winning it in overtime.

Teddy Blueger, starting on the second line in place of injured Evgeni Malkin, scored Pittsburgh’s lone goal as the Penguins managed just one point out of a pair of home games during the weekend.

Murray, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 13 shots in a loss to St. Louis in Saturday, bounced back by stopping 36 shots but couldn’t get a handle on Couturier’s winner.

The Flyers appeared to take the lead 1:06 into the second period when Claude Giroux’s wrist shot from the right circle beat Murray. The on-ice officials, however, immediately waved it off, ruling Jakub Voracek interfered with Murray as he skated by the crease as the shot closed in. The Flyers challenged the call, and it was overturned by league officials in Toronto. Pittsburgh then challenged that ruling, claiming Philadelphia was offsides when it entered the zone. The call was then overturned a second time, leaving the game scoreless.

Got it?

Goal or no goal, it was one of the few times the Flyers truly tested Murray. The Penguins tilted the ice heavily at times, swarming Hart with extended pressure. Finishing, however, was another matter. If Pittsburgh wasn’t shooting wide — as Nick Bjugstad did on a breakaway in the second period — then the 20-year-old Hart was making an indelible first impression in one of the NHL’s most testy rivalries. He made a gorgeous stop on Patric Hornqvist in the second, extending his left pad to stop a point-blank shot from Hornqvist in the slot.

Hart had no chance, though, on Blueger’s fourth career goal. Marcus Pettersson threw a shot in from the point and Phil Kessel pounced on the rebound. Hart made the save but the puck bounced right to Blueger’s stick. The rookie pounded it into the net to give the Penguins the lead 2:07 into the third.

Yet just as they did in their previous meeting, the Flyers rallied. As the clock ticked down, van Riemsdyk collected a feed from Travis Konecy in the slot and ripped one that gave the Flyers new life.

NOTES: Kessel playing in his 319th consecutive game with Pittsburgh, tying Craig Adams’ franchise record. Kessel has played in 765 straight games overall, the eighth-longest in NHL history. … Pittsburgh’s successful replay challenge marked the 8th time in 14 tries the Penguins have won a challenge this season. … The Flyers were 0 for 3 on the power play. The Penguins were 0 for 4. … Malkin was shaken up in a hit with St. Louis defenseman Robert Bortuzzo on Saturday. He stayed in the game and played more than 19 minutes but was unavailable just over 24 hours later.

UP NEXT

Flyers: Host Montreal on Tuesday.

Penguins: Begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday in Carolina.

 

 

[table id=48 /]

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored twice during a furious second-period rally and Evgeni Malkin picked up two assists to reach 1,000 career points as the Pittsburgh Penguins edged the Washington Capitals 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Crosby picked up his 32nd and 33rd goals during a three-goal outburst over a span of 1:48 as Pittsburgh erased a two-goal deficit to take the lead on its way to snapping Washington’s seven-game winning streak. Jake Guentzel started Pittsburgh’s comeback with his team-leading 35th of the season. Phil Kessel and Jared McCann both added a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have won six of eight.

Matt Murray stopped 38 shots as Pittsburgh topped the rival Capitals for the third time in four meetings this season.

Jakub Vrana scored twice for Washington. John Carlson collected his 11th and Alexander Ovechkin picked up an assist to become the 48th player in NHL history with 1,200 career points. Braden Holtby made 25 saves but briefly came undone during Pittsburgh’s flurry that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

The reigning Stanley Cup champions came in riding a winning streak that vaulted them to the top spot in the Metropolitan Division and gave them some cushion in the claustrophobic jockeying for playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Ten months removed from a dramatic Game 6 overtime victory in the conference semifinals last spring that served as the springboard to their first championship, the Capitals spent the first 30 minutes looking like a serious threat to make another deep run. They smothered Pittsburgh offensively and rode Vrana’s marksmanship and a bit of luck to a 2-0 lead.

Vrana’s wrist shot from the left circle whizzed over Murray’s glove with 32 seconds left in the first period. He scored again 9:36 into the second when his shot from low in the left circle smacked off Murray’s blocker, flipped up in the air, bounced off Murray’s back and then his right skate before trickling into the net.

All of Washington’s momentum vanished in a flash.

McCann started Pittsburgh’s rally by stripping Evgeny Kuznetzov high in the Washington zone before setting up Guentzel, who fired the puck into the empty net 12:37 into the second.

Crosby then got on the board 47 seconds later. Justin Schultz lobbed a flip pass out of the Pittsburgh zone and over the entirety of the neutral zone before it landed at the end of Crosby’s stick. Pittsburgh’s captain held off two defenders while slipping the puck between Holtby’s legs to tie it at 2.

Nicklas Backstrom was called for tripping Malkin shortly after Crosby evened it up, and Crosby capped Pittsburgh’s outburst by finishing off a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe that started with Malkin feeding it to Kessel, who then sent a cross-ice pass to Crosby for a one-timer.

Kessel’s second goal since Jan. 30 11:16 into the third period put Pittsburgh up 4-2. Malkin earned the secondary assist to join Crosby, Ovechkin and San Jose’s Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau as the only active members of the NHL’s 1,000-point club.

Carlson pulled Washington within 4-3 with just over six minutes to play but McCann’s empty-netter with 56 seconds left sealed Pittsburgh’s victory.

NOTES: Oshie’s two assists boosted his career total to 300. … Carl Hagelin, who helped the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, played 13:13 in his return to Pittsburgh. Hagelin was traded to Los Angeles in November before being sent to Washington at the trade deadline. … Penguins D Kris Letang missed his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury. … Pittsburgh F Zach Aston-Reese sat out with a lower-body injury. … The Penguins went 2 for 4 on the power play. Washington was 1 for 2 with the man advantage.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Continue a four-game road trip on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Penguins: Travel to Buffalo on Thursday to face the Sabres. Pittsburgh lost each of its first two meetings with Buffalo in overtime.