Category: NHL

End of 1st: Oilers 1 Pens 0 on WBVP and WMBA!!

1st Period Goals:

EDM:

Leon Draisaitl (4:45)

Murray, Crosby lead Penguins past Flyers 4-1


 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Murray made 50 saves and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

Jake Guentzel and Nick Bjugstad also scored and Kris Letang had an empty-netter for the Penguins, who snapped a four-game losing streak while winning for just the fourth time in the last 12. Pittsburgh entered holding the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia, which lost for just the second time in 11 games. The Flyers could’ve pulled within four points of Pittsburgh with a victory, but now stand eight points behind the Penguins.

Flyers rookie goalie Carter Hart had his eight-game win streak halted, falling one game shy of setting an NHL record for consecutive victories prior to turning 21 years old. The 20-year-old also finished a game short of tying Pelle Lindbergh for the Flyers’ rookie record for wins in a row. Hart had 24 saves.

Murray was a wall for the Penguins, withstanding an offensive flurry by Philadelphia that included a franchise-record 28 shots in the second period.

Crosby put the Penguins up 1-0 with a fluky goal with 11:41 left in the first period. Hart lost sight of the puck behind the net and it caromed off the glass to Crosby to the right of the crease. With Hart still looking the other way, Crosby shot into the empty half of the net for his 24th of the season and 40th goal in 65 career games against Philadelphia. The Penguins’ star has scored against the Flyers more than any other team.

Bjugstad made it 2-0 7:04 into the second with a wrist shot from a sharp angle, an uncharacteristically soft goal for Hart. It was the sixth of the season for Bjustad and his first with the Penguins since being acquired from Florida on Feb. 1.

The Flyers appeared to score with 7:07 left in the second when Nolan Patrick’s rebound crossed the goal line, but the referee whistled the play dead when he thought Murray had gloved Travis Konecny’s initial shot.

Guentzel scored on a wraparound with 5:14 remaining in the third to make it 3-0. It was the team-leading 27th goal for Guentzel.

Voracek finally got Philadelphia on the board 40 seconds later on the power play, when he lifted the puck over Murray from close range.

The Flyers gained the man-advantage when Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin received a match penalty with 4:54 left for hitting Michael Raffl in the head with his stick. Malkin returned after missing five straight games due to an upper body injury and had an assist.

NOTES: Pittsburgh D Olli Maatta didn’t return after being checked into the boards by Phil Varone with six minutes left in the first. . The teams will next play each other on Feb. 23 in an outdoor game at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles. The season series is tied 1-1, as the Flyers won 4-2 ON Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh. . Hart was the seventh different Flyers goalie, including six starters, to appear in the last seven meetings against Pittsburgh. … Letang passed Paul Coffee for most goals by a Penguins defenseman.

UP NEXT

Pittsburgh: Play the first of three straight at home against Edmonton on Wednesday.

Philadelphia: At Minnesota on Tuesday.

Lightning beat Penguins 5-4

Johnson has go-ahead goal, Lightning beat Penguins 5-4
By MARK DIDTLER, Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Johnson had a key goal and a tussle with Sidney Crosby, too.
Johnson and J.T. Miller scored third-period goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped a rare two-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
After Johnson got his first goal in 15 games just under five minutes into the period, Miller gave Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead with 5:57 remaining.
“I knew it was just a matter of time,” Johnson said of his 19th goal.
Tanner Pearson pulled the Penguins within 5-4 shortly after Miller’s goal off a steal and pass from behind the net by Crosby.
Crosby played in his 916th game, moving past Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins history.
Johnson checked Crosby into the boards midway through the second period, and the Penguins star dropped his gloves during a scrum between the two. Both were given roughing penalties at 13:14.
The game also had two fighting majors and a pair of 10-minute misconducts.
“I just think it’s two quality teams,” Johnson said. “Very competitive. Both teams hate to lose, and both teams give it their all. Those things are going to happen.”
The Lightning have lost two in a row just twice this season.
Yanni Gourde, Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the NHL-leading Lightning, who reached 40 wins for the sixth consecutive season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
The Penguins also got goals from Garrett Wilson, Jared McCann and Bryan Rust, and Casey DeSmith stopped 29 shots.
Pittsburgh, 2-5-1 over its last eight games, tied it at 3-all on 4-on-4 second-period goals by McCann and Rust.
“I still think to a certain extent, the type of mistakes that we make, we beat ourselves,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought our fight was there all night long. We pushed back.”
Cirelli stopped a 21-game drought with his fourth short-handed goal to put Tampa Bay ahead 3-1 at 7:42 of the second.
The Penguins have allowed eight short-handed goals.
“I have nothing more to say about the power play,” Sullivan said.
Tampa Bay went up 2-1 on goals by Gourde and Cernak in the first. Brayden Point set up Gourde during a 2-man breakaway at 15:02, and Cernak scored 57 seconds later.
Wilson got his first NHL goal — coming in his 26th game this year and 60th overall — at 13:36 of the first.
Pittsburgh fell to 18-11-5 when scoring first.
Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov, who entered with an NHL-best 81 points, was minus-four and had one shot. He has not scored a goal in 10 straight games.
“I don’t worry about Kuch,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
NOTES: Pittsburgh C Evgeni Malkin missed his fifth straight game but took part in the morning skate. … Cirelli became the third NHL player to have four short-handed goals this season. … Penguins G Matt Murray was the backup after missing the previous game with an upper-body injury. … Lightning D Braydon Coburn played in his 900th NHL game and had an assist.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Complete a three-game trip Monday night at Florida.
Lightning: Play Sunday at Florida.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Hyman, Sparks lift Maple Leafs over Penguins 3-2

TORONTO (AP) — Zach Hyman snapped a tie late in the second period, Garret Sparks made 28 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Saturday night.

Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto, and Travis Dermott had a goal and an assist. Jake Gardiner added two assists.

Sidney Crosby and Teddy Blueger scored for Pittsburgh, which was without Evgeni Malkin for a second straight game because of an upper-body injury. Matt Murray stopped 30 shots.

Both teams were playing their second game in two nights — Toronto lost 3-2 in overtime Friday at Detroit, and Pittsburgh topped Ottawa 5-3 at home.

Toronto, which entered 4-7-1 over its last 12, went ahead with 3:54 left in the second on a slick play by Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner.

The duo worked a give-and-go in tight quarters along the boards before Rielly fired a shot that rebounded to Hyman, who outmuscled defenseman Kris Letang, kicked the puck to his stick as he fell to the ice and pushed in his ninth goal.

Rielly’s assist was his 52nd point, tying his career high from 2017-18.

The Penguins nearly got that one right back, but Sparks stopped Patric Hornqvist’s deflection and Tanner Pearson with his glove on the rebound.

Patrick Marleau had two chances to give Toronto a two-goal lead in the third, but Murray was there both times, including with the pad on a great solo rush by the veteran winger.

Pittsburgh pulled its goalie with 1:30 left in regulation and had an offensive zone faceoff with 28.4 seconds left when Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev just missed the empty net on a shot that went for icing, but the home side managed to hang on.

Jake Muzzin made his home debut for the Leafs after Monday’s trade with the Los Angeles Kings for two prospects and a 2019 first-round draft pick. The big defenseman got cheers during player introductions and had the crowd at Scotiabank Arena buzzing six minutes in when he laid out Penguins forward Jake Guentzel with a big hit along the boards.

Notes: Former Leafs D Ian Turnbull was honored with Toronto’s J.P. Bickell Memorial Cup by the team’s board of directors. The nod came 42 years to the day after Turnbull scored five goals in a game on Feb. 2, 1977 — an NHL record for a blue-liner that still stands.

UP NEXT

Pittsburgh Hosts Carolina on Tuesday night.

Toronto: Hosts Anaheim on Monday night.