Sidney Crosby had a hat trick plus an assist Friday to lift the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth straight win, 5-2 over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Brian Dumoulin added a goal and two assists, Mike Matheson had one goal and one assist, and Bryan Rust contributed two assists for the Penguins. Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith gave up two goals on 12 shots in the first period, then was pulled. Tristan Jarry stopped all 15 shots he faced.
Gustav Nyquist and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost six of nine. Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 26 saves.
With the Blue Jackets up 2-1, Crosby tied it with 28.7 seconds left in the first. After Matheson broke the tie 5:35 into the third, Crosby scored on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle during a five-on-three power play at 13:32 to make it 4-2, then added an empty-netter with 1:58 left.
Islanders 4, Coyotes 0
Brock Nelson scored twice in the third period, Scott Mayfield scored a goal and collected an assist in a span of 2:58 in the first period, and New York opened a pivotal seven-game homestand with a win over Arizona in Elmont, N.Y.
The Islanders won for the ninth time in 13 games (9-3-1) and moved back over .500 (14-13-6) for the first time in over two months. New York also improved to 7-2-1 in their past 10 home games after going 0-5-2 in their first seven home games at the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park.
Nelson scored his team-leading 12th and 13th goals of the season for his third multi-goal game of the season. He nearly got the hat trick in the final minute but Arizona goaltender Scott Wedgewood kicked his left pad out.
Hurricanes 6, Rangers 3
Sebastian Aho and former Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo each collected a goal and two assists to lift Carolina to a victory over New York.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist and another former Rangers player, Jesper Fast, also scored, as did rookie Seth Jarvis and Nino Niederreiter. The Hurricanes improved to 12-2-1 in their last 15 games.
New York’s Mika Zibanejad recorded a power-play goal and an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (four goals, five assists).
Wild 5, Blackhawks 1
Ryan Hartman scored twice and Marcus Foligno and Calen Addison each tallied a goal and assist to boost Minnesota past host Chicago.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello registered two assists apiece for the Wild, who won for the fourth time in five games on the heels of a five-game losing streak.
The Blackhawks have lost two in a row after winning four straight. Dylan Strome spoiled a shutout bid from Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (35 saves) with 5:03 to play. Chicago goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped nine of 13 shots before yielding to Kevin Lankinen, who made 16 saves on 17 shots in his first action since Dec. 18.
Stars 5, Red Wings 4 (OT)
Roope Hintz scored on a power play at 2:51 of overtime to give Dallas a win at Detroit. The Stars’ Jason Robertson scored with 63 seconds left in regulation to send the game into OT.
Ryan Suter, Joel Kiviranta and Esa Lindell also scored for the Stars, and Braden Holtby made 24 saves. Joe Pavelski registered three assists.
Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists for the Red Wings. Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter and Dylan Larkin also scored for Detroit, while Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
Blues 5, Kraken 0
Ville Husso made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season and the third of his 28-game NHL career as visiting St. Louis topped Seattle for its fifth win in six games.
Tyler Bozak scored a short-handed goal, Brayden Schenn tallied on a power play, Colton Parayko converted a penalty shot and Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou each tallied at even strength.
Seattle goalie Joey Daccord stopped 26 of 31 shots in his first NHL appearance since a 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 6. The expansion Kraken had a two-game winning streak snapped, which tied their season high.
Panthers 2, Canucks 1 (SO)
Aleksander Barkov scored the shootout winner to give Florida a comeback victory over undermanned host Vancouver.
Sam Reinhart tallied in regulation for the league-leading Panthers, who are on an 10-1-1 run. Alex Chiasson scored in the first period for the Canucks. Florida goaltender Spencer Knight made 27 saves through overtime, then fended off two of the three opponents in the shootout.
Vancouver’s missing players included goaltenders Thatcher Demko and Jaroslav Halak, so Spencer Martin got the start. He appeared in three previous NHL games, all in the 2016-17 season, yet stopped 33 shots through overtime until letting in two of three shots in the shootout.
Ducks 5, Lightning 1
Derek Grant scored two goals as host Anaheim ended a four-game losing streak and a two-game scoreless streak by beating Tampa Bay.
Kevin Shattenkirk, Vinni Lettieri and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored goals as the Ducks won in regulation for just the second time in their past 12 games. Anaheim came out on top despite the absence of head coach Dallas Eakins, who went into COVID-19 protocol earlier Friday.
Anaheim goalie John Gibson made 32 saves in his first victory in two games after missing five contests while in COVID protocol. Ross Colton scored a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves as the Lightning saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
-Field Level Media