NHL Roundup: Sidney Crosby’s Late Heroics Lift Pens Past Jackets

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) skates during warmups before playing the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 27, 2022. (Gaelen Morse/USA TODAY Sports via Field Level Media)

Sidney Crosby swiped in the puck from just outside the crease with 2:14 left in the third period Sunday to give the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins a 3–2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The winning goal survived a Columbus challenge that claimed goaltender Elvis Merzlikins was interfered with.

Evgeni Malkin added a goal and an assist, Chad Ruhwedel also scored and Bryan Rust had two assists for the Penguins, who have won two in a row. Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith made 32 saves.

Jack Roslovic had a goal and an assist and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost their second straight.

Hurricanes 2, Oilers 1

Teuvo Teravainen collected a goal and an assist to lift host Carolina over Edmonton in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Sebastian Aho also scored, and Andrei Svechnikov notched two assists for the Hurricanes, who have won five in a row. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves en route to recording his league-best 29th win of the season.

Derek Ryan scored for the Oilers, who had an eight-game streak of scoring at least three goals come to a halt.

Stars 4, Sabres 2

Michael Raffl had two goals for Dallas in a win over visiting Buffalo.

Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov also scored for the Stars, who are 5–2–1 in their past eight games. Jake Oettinger made 38 saves.

Tage Thompson and Cody Eakin scored, and Craig Anderson made 27 saves for the Sabres, who have lost six in a row.

Blues 4, Blackhawks 0

Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for his 10th career shutdown as visiting St. Louis blanked Chicago.

David Perron scored twice to pace the offense for the Blues, who extended their point streak to seven games (6–0–1). Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich also scored for the Blues and Brayden Schenn had two assists.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for the Blackhawks, who have won just three of their last 11 games.

Islanders 4, Ducks 0

Noah Dobson, Casey Cizikas, Andy Greene and Kieffer Bellows each scored goals as visiting New York ended its California drought with a shutout victory over Anaheim.

Ross Johnston had two assists after he was a healthy scratch in each of the last six games, while Ilya Sorokin had 34 saves. The Islanders won after consecutive defeats at San Jose and Los Angeles and earned a victory in California for the first time since defeating the Los Angeles Kings in October of 2018. New York was without points leader Mathew Barzal (lower body) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (upper body), who came out of Saturday’s defeat at Los Angeles with injuries.

Anaheim goalie Anthony Stolarz had 18 saves while starting in place of struggling All-Star John Gibson, who gave up at least four goals in each of his last five starts.

Sharks 3, Kraken 1

James Reimer made 39 saves to lead host San Jose to a victory over Seattle.

Scott Reedy and Jonah Gadjovich both scored their first career NHL goals and Ryan Dzingel also scored for San Jose, which won for just the second time in its last 10 games. Jasper Weatherby added two assists.

Morgan Geekie scored and Philipp Grubauer finished with 21 saves for Seattle, which lost its seventh consecutive game.

Jets 5, Coyotes 3

Kyle Connor scored two third-period goals to help visiting Winnipeg rally over Arizona.

Evgeny Svechnikov had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who had lost four straight and trailed 3–2 entering the third period. Eric Comrie made 26 saves.

Jakob Chychrun, Barrett Hayton and Nick Ritchie each had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, who had won two of three. Scott Wedgewood made 33 saves.

Canucks 5, Rangers 2

Thatcher Demko made 31 saves as Vancouver raced out to a four-goal lead and beat New York in the opener of a four-game road trip.

Tanner Pearson and Tyler Myers scored in the first period on goals set up by former Ranger J.T. Miller. Juho Lammikko also scored and Matthew Highmore netted a power-play goal late in the second period.

Alexis Lafreniere and Ryan Strome scored 4:10 apart in the third as the Rangers fell to 5–2–1 in their past eight games and 9–2–2 in their past 13 home games.