Category: NHL

Kessel, Letang score twice, lead Pens past Islanders

 

 – 12/6/18 9:48 PM
BC-HKN–Islanders-Penguins
By DAN SCIFO ,  Associated Press
Eds: APNewsNow. Penguins 6, Islanders 2. With AP Photos.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kris Letang and Phil Kessel each scored twice, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 6-2 on Thursday night.

Kessel also had two assists, Sidney Crosby scored his 15th goal and had two assists, and Riley Sheahan scored his fourth goal. The Penguins have won two straight and five of eight following a slump in which they won once in 10 games.

Jake Guentzel had three assists and established a career-best six-game point streak for Pittsburgh.

Casey DeSmith made 19 saves to win for the fifth time in six starts.

New York’s Anders Lee scored for the fourth straight game, his 11th of the season. Brock Nelson’s 10th was a short-handed goal for the Islanders, who have one win in their last five games.

Thomas Greiss stopped 16 shots through two periods before he was replaced by Christopher Gibson, who made six saves.

After Letang scored on a give-and-go with Derick Brassard, Nelson tied it late in the first period. It was the fourth short-handed goal allowed by Pittsburgh in five games and its league-worst eighth this season.

Letang scored again with 29 seconds left in the period on a slap shot from center point.

Sheahan batted the rebound from Evgeni Malkin’s shot to make it 3-1, and Kessel scored twice in a six-minute span later in the period. Crosby and Guentzel assisted on both goals, and Crosby added his own goal in the third period.

NOTES: Crosby has points in 15 of his last 17 games against the Islanders, and Malkin has points in 16 of 20 versus New York. … Penguins F Patric Hornqvist left the game after the first period for undisclosed reasons. … Penguins F Dominik Simon missed the game because of a lower-body injury. … Islanders G Robin Lehner skated Thursday but was not available to back up Greiss. … Pittsburgh has won four of its last five home games. … G Matt Murray and F Matt Cullen both skated prior to the game for Pittsburgh.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Visit Detroit on Saturday.

Penguins: Begin a three-game trip Saturday at Ottawa.

Kessel, Letang lift Pens over Islanders!!

3rd Period Goals:

NYI:

Anders Lee (3:23)

Pit:

Sidney Crosby (13:00)

End of 2nd: Pens 5 Islanders 1 on WBVP and WMBA!!

2nd Period Goals:

Pit:

Riley Sheahan (7:21)

Phil Kessel  (PP (12:09)

Phil Kessel (17:37)

End of 1st: Pens 2 Islanders 1 on WBVP and WMBA!!

1st Period Goals:

Pit

Kris Letang (8:34)

Kris Letand (19:31)

NYI:

Brock Nelson (SH 17:43)

Hornqvist’s natural hat trick leads Penguins by Colorado 6-3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Patric Hornqvist’s natural hat trick in the third period powered the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 on Tuesday night.

The Avalanche had erased a three-goal deficit to tie the game going into the third when Hornqvist went to work.

His power-play goal 6:11 into the final period gave the Penguins the lead. Hornqvist beat Semyon Varlamov again just 1:21 later to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to two, and the veteran from Sweden completed the hat trick on his next shift when he fired a wrist shot by Varlamov less than 90 seconds later.

Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin and Derick Brassard also scored for the Penguins, who halted Colorado’s 11-game point streak. Kris Letang added two assists for Pittsburgh. Casey DeSmith finished with 42 saves.

Tyson Barrie, Carl Soderberg and Matt Nieto scored for the Avalanche, who saw their six-game road win streak snapped. Varlamov made 26 stops, but struggled early and late.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon, good friends and frequent training partners in the offseason, put together a thrilling duel in Colorado last week, with MacKinnon’s four points able to help the Avalanche overcome a natural hat trick by Crosby in a 6-3 Avalanche victory.

The two stars went scoreless in the rematch, taking a backseat to Hornqvist.

The Penguins needed just 7:27 to build a three-goal lead. Guentzel redirected a feed from Letang with his left skate just 2:46 in. Malkin followed just over four minutes later when he jammed home a shot from the point by Tanner Pearson for his first five-on-five goal since Oct. 30. Brassard beat Varlamov 35 seconds later and Colorado’s hot streak appeared to be in serious jeopardy.

Pittsburgh then caught a break when a goal by Colorado’s J.T. Compher was overturned on a coach’s challenge when officials ruled Soderberg interfered with DeSmith.

Still, the Avalanche managed to fire 18 shots at DeSmith in the opening 20 minutes, a hint at the flurry to come as Pittsburgh’s seemingly comfortable advantage vanished in a span of 5:01.

Barrie’s power-play shot from the point 8:16 into the second gave the Avalanche momentum. Ian Cole, playing in Pittsburgh for the first time since helping the Penguins win consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, fired a knuckler toward the net that Soderberg managed to get a stick on and deflect past DeSmith.

Nieto found a gap with the Penguins on the power play to slip the puck by DeSmith to tie the game, the seventh short-handed goal allowed by Pittsburgh this season.

Hornqvist, one of the best net-front players in the league, collected a Letang rebound, spun around and whipped a shot by Varlamov 6:11 into the third to start a burst that ended with hats raining down from the sell-out crowd, and Colorado’s attempt to match the franchise record for consecutive road wins set during the 1998-99 season was over.

NOTES: Pittsburgh D Marcus Pettersson, acquired in a trade with Anaheim on Monday, played 13:00. … The Penguins sat defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and Juuso Riikola and forward Garrett Wilson. … Colorado scratched defenseman Mark Alt and forward Sven Andrighetto. …

UP NEXT

Colorado: Begins a two-game swing through Florida on Friday when they play the Panthers.

Pittsburgh: Welcome the New York Islanders on Thursday. The Islanders won the first meeting between the two teams this season in a 3-2 shootout on Nov. 1.

 

Colorado overcome’s Crosby’s natural hat trick, beat Penguins 6-3


Avs overcome Crosby’s natural hat trick, beat Penguins 6-3
By MICHAEL KELLY, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon put on a show that made Cole Harbour proud, and it was MacKinnon who walked away with bragging rights for the Nova Scotia town.
MacKinnon had a goal and three assists, including one on Gabe Landeskog’s tiebreaking score midway through the third period, and the surging Colorado Avalanche overcame Crosby’s natural hat trick to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Wednesday night.
MacKinnon’s team won the matchup of hometown stars, but Crosby nearly stole it with his 11th career hat trick.
“It’s not easy when Sid gets going,” MacKinnon said. “He starts kind of galloping out there.”
Colorado won its sixth straight game and is 8-0-1 in its last nine.
MacKinnon, 23, and Crosby, 31, are both former No. 1 overall draft picks. They have become offseason training partners and have made TV commercials together. Those things are put aside when they face each other twice a season, but Wednesday’s game might get a second viewing when they get together.
“I’m sure this is a game we will talk about for a while,” MacKinnon said. “We don’t play each other much, so for a regular-season game this is one of the fun ones I’ve been a part of. By Sid getting a hat trick and obviously us getting a big one.”
MacKinnon had an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left, his 18th goal of the season. Samuel Girard, Erik Johnson, Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg also scored for Colorado, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists.
The Avalanche’s top line of MacKinnon, Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, who leads the NHL in scoring with 42 points, had eight points and continues to dominate. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan didn’t hesitate when asked if the trio is the best he’s seen this season.
“Yes,” he said. “They’re not easy to contain. They’re three elite players that are all on the same line.”
Sullivan has a two-time Hart Trophy winner in Crosby, and he put on an MVP-worthy performance for the Penguins by erasing a 3-0 deficit by himself.
He struck twice in the final minute of the second period. His first goal came off his own rebound on a breakaway with 52 seconds to go, and he scored again with 10 seconds left with Colorado defenseman Patrik Nemeth off for holding. Crosby tied it at 4:43 of the third to complete his first hat trick of the season. He has 13 goals.
“Sid tried to will us a win with his effort,” Sullivan said. “I thought he was terrific. He was terrific all night long.”
Landeskog broke the tie with his 15th goal at 10:05. The Penguins pulled Tristan Jarry for an extra skater, but MacKinnon and Soderberg scored to seal it.
“We didn’t give up, so that’s a good thing,” Crosby said. “Still, when you put yourself in that position to get back in the game after coming back from three you want to at least get a point out of it.”
Girard gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with his second goal at 11:19 of the first period. Johnson scored at 5:13 of the second and Wilson made it 3-0 at 7:52.
The Penguins challenged Johnson’s goal for goaltender interference but it was upheld upon review.
NOTES: Colorado D Tyson Barrie missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. … Pittsburgh D Kris Letang, who set a franchise record for games played in Winnipeg on Tuesday, had his four-game point streak snapped. … Colorado is 1-1-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season. It is 3-1-0 in the first game. … The first penalty wasn’t called until Crosby drew a holding-the-stick minor 49 seconds into the second period. Colorado’s Alexander Kerfoot got a high-sticking minor 19 seconds later.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Philadelphia on Saturday night.
Avalanche: Host St. Louis on Friday night.
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