Crosby scores 2, reaches 400 goals in Pens’ 4-1 win.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored twice, including his 400th career goal, to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
Bryan Rust snapped a tie with a third-period tally and Riley Sheahan also scored for the Penguins, who have won 12 of their past 17.
Goalie Matt Murray made 33 saves for the Penguins.
Kyle Brodziak scored for St. Louis, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Crosby jammed a shot under the pad of goalie Jake Allen from the side of the net at 3:31 of the second period. He becomes the 95th player in NHL history to reach the 400-goal mark. Crosby is the 25th to have 400 goals with more than 650 assists.
Crosby had been held scoreless in his previous 10 games.
The goal came 21 seconds after Brodziak scored to break a scoreless tie. He converted from close range off a pass from Chris Thorburn.
Rust scored on a breakaway at 1:05 of the third period to give his team a 2-1 lead.
Crosby added an empty-net goal with 2:48 left, his 19th of the season.
St. Louis appeared to take a 2-1 lead just 34 seconds before Rust’s goal on a tally by Paul Stastny, but video replay showed the puck was hit with a high stick.
WELCOME BACK
Pittsburgh RW Ryan Reaves returned to St. Louis for the first time since he was acquired by the Penguins in a trade on June 23, 2017. Reaves, who spent seven season as the Blues enforcer, was given a loud ovation when he came onto the ice for the first time.
NOTES: St. Louis C Paul Stastny played in his 800th NHL game. … Blues goalie Jake Allen started back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 27-29. … Pittsburgh has gone four games without a power-play goal, tying a season high four-game drought from Dec. 11-18. … St. Louis coach Mike Yeo was an assistant for the Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup in 2009.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Ottawa on Tuesday.
Blues: Travel to Nashville on Tuesday.
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By TOM CANAVAN, AP Sports Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Travis Zajac scored two goals and set up another as the New Jersey Devils limited Pittsburgh to a season-low 16 shots in posting a 3-1 victory on Saturday night, ending the Penguins’ four-game winning streak.
Blake Coleman also scored and Stefan Noesen had two assists in helping the Devils win their third straight since returning from the All-Star break. Keith Kinkaid made 15 saves and benefited from a goaltender interference call that denied Sidney Crosby a third-period goal.
Evgeni Malkin, the NHL player of the month in January with 12 goals, scored in the third period. He now has eight goals in his last four games, 15 since Jan. 1, and 29 overall. Rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 35 saves for the Penguins, who looked sluggish after beating Washington on Friday night.
Sidney Crosby, who also missed an open net in the second period, had his 11-game point scoring streak stopped. The run is tied for the NHL best this season.
After a scoreless first period, Zajac gave the Devils the lead 30 seconds into the second period after a mistake by DeSmith. The rookie goaltender tried to pass or poke the puck toward the corner and Zajac intercepted it close to the net and stuffed it into the net for his first goal in 10 games.
Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta fanned on clearing attempt near the right circle a little more than two minutes later and Zajac collected the puck. He sent a pass to Noesen, who quickly found Coleman for a shot that got between DeSmith’s arm and body at 3:05.
Malkin got the Penguins on the board early in the third period with a great backhander past Kinkaid that was set up by defenseman Ian Cole.
Zajac got his seventh goal at 9:51, deflecting a point shot by defenseman Damon Severson past DeSmith.
Crosby lost his goal when it was ruled that Bryan Rust skated through the crease and hit Kinkaid in the mask. The blow knocked the goaltender down and allowed Crosby to bank a shot from the corner into the net off the goalie.
NOTES: Penguins F Zachary Ashton-Reese made his NHL debut. … The win ended the Devils’ five-game losing streak against the Penguins, all last season. …. This was Pittsburgh’s first loss in regulation against a Metropolitan Division opponent since Jan. 1 (5-1-1).
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.
Devils: at Ottawa on Tuesday night.
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By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Phil Kessel scored twice and picked up assist, Evgeni Malkin added two goals and two assists, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night.
Bryan Rust, Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who won their fourth straight to pull within four points of first-place Washington in the crowded Metropolitan Division. Sidney Crosby had two assists to push his scoring streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the NHL.
Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for Pittsburgh, which won its seventh consecutive home game by jumping on the Capitals early then pulling away late.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice to push his season total to an NHL-best 32 and Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetzov also scored for the Capitals, but Washington couldn’t keep pace with the Penguins. Braden Holtby finished with 27 saves but gave up three goals in the opening 8 minutes of the third period before being pulled in favor of Phillpp Grubauer as Pittsburgh broke open a tight game.
The Penguins came in rolling, ripping off an NHL-high nine wins in January to climb from 10th in the Eastern Conference to within striking distance of the division-leading Capitals with still two months to go before the postseason.
The prospect of another potential playoff showdown looms for the longtime rivals, even if the rivalry tends to be one-sided when they meet in the spring, when the series usually ends with the Penguins skating on to the next round and Washington left to wonder how it let it get away once again.
Pittsburgh never trailed and never wavered after the Capitals erased 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits. Kuznetzov tied it at 3 when he flipped a bouncing puck in the slot by Murray 11:57 into the second to give Washington a shot at picking up its seventh victory this season in a game in which it trailed by at least two goals.
Not this time. Malkin put in his own rebound 1:01 into the third to put the Penguins back in front. Ovechkin evened it just 49 seconds later after a slick cross-ice feed from Kuznetzov, but Pittsburgh simply kept on coming.
Rust picked up his third goal in his last two games to put the Penguins ahead to stay, Kessel followed with his second of the night and 23rd of the season to chase Holtby. Malkin finished the outburst with his team-leading 28th of the season, 14 of which have come since Jan. 1.
NOTES: Pittsburgh F Carter Rowney played 9:05 in his return after missing a month with an upper-body injury. … The Penguins scratched D Chad Ruhwedel, D Matt Hunwick and injured F Conor Sheary (lower-body). … Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Jakub Vrana. … Pittsburgh went 3 for 4 on the power play. The Capitals were 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Las Vegas on Sunday.
Penguins: Play at New Jersey on Saturday.
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