PITTSBURGH — Tomas Tatar and Thomas Vanek scored early third-period goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL on Sunday.
Nick Jensen and Steve Ott also scored and Luke Glendening added an empty-netter for the Red Wings, who completed a back-to-back sweep of Washington and Pittsburgh, two of the top teams in the league. Petr Mrazek made 24 saves for his second win in as many days, having lost his previous four games.
Detroit defeated Washington in a shootout at home Saturday and followed with the win at Pittsburgh, the NHL’s best home team. It was the Red Wings’ second victory against Pittsburgh this season.
Detroit, which lost five straight before the weekend victories, remained near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but within striking distance of the final playoff spot.
Sidney Crosby scored his league-leading 32nd goal and Tom Kuhnhackl added his third with the Penguins short-handed. The Penguins lost in regulation for the first time since the All-Star break.
Rangers 2, Capitals 1
Mats Zuccarello scored a third-period goal and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves, powering the Rangers to the victory. Ryan McDonagh scored in the first period for New York, which has won seven of eight overall and five in a row at home.
Alex Ovechkin scored a second-period power-play goal for Washington. The first-place Capitals lost their second straight after a six-game winning streak. Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for Washington.
Tied 1-1 entering the third period, Grubauer made two saves on Jimmy Vesey. Lundqvist answered with a nice glove stop on John Carlson’s slap shot about seven minutes into the period. Zuccarello broke the tie after Mika Zibanejad won a faceoff in the Washington zone and sent a pass to Chris Kreider. Kreider passed to Zuccarello, who beat Grubauer for his 12th of the season at 8:37.
Predators 4, Blue Jackets 3
Mattias Ekholm scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Juuse Saros stopped 35 shots, helping Nashville to the road win. Ryan Ellis, Kevin Fiala and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Predators, who never trailed. James Neal and P.K. Subban each had a pair of assists.
Nashville had dropped three of four. Zach Werenski had a goal and two assists for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves. Brandon Saad and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost for the first time in three games.
Blackhawks 5, Sabres 1
Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist in his annual homecoming, leading Chicago to its sixth win in seven games. Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews broke it open with second-period goals. Ryan Hartman and Artem Anisimov also scored, helping the Blackhawks bounce back from a 3-1 loss to Edmonton on Saturday.
Evander Kane scored and Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots for Buffalo in its final game before its five-day bye. The Sabres were trying for their first four-game win streak since December 2014. Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling, subbing for starter Corey Crawford, made 25 saves in just his seventh appearance in two months.
Islanders 6, Devils 4
Ryan Strome had two goals and an assist, helping the Islanders improve to 9-0-2 in their last 11 at home. John Tavares, Andrew Ladd, Casey Cizikas and Jason Chimera also scored for New York, and Jean-Francois Berube stopped 26 shots.
New Jersey had won six straight on the road and was 8-0-1 in its last nine away from Prudential Center. Taylor Hall had a goal and two assists for the Devils, and Kyle Palmieri, Miles Wood and Joseph Blandisi also scored. The Devils beat the Islanders 3-2 at home on Saturday night.
Maple Leafs 4, Hurricanes 0
Connor Brown scored twice while Auston Matthews had a highlight-reel goal on a backhander as he was twirling down to the ice, helping Toronto stop a two-game skid. Jake Gardiner added a goal and two assists, James van Riemsdyk had two assists and Curtis McElhinney made 37 saves in his first shutout since January 2014.
Matthews’ 28th goal came as he was being hooked on a charge to the net in the second period. But he maneuvered his stick across his body in midair as he was falling and poked in the puck with his backhand just before hitting the ice. Cam Ward made 20 saves for Carolina before being pulled with 10:58 remaining in the third period.
Jets 3, Senators 2
Josh Morrissey scored early in the third period to help the Jets hold off the Senators. Morrissey made it 3-1 at 2:33 when his wrist shot from the blue line beat Mike Condon. Dustin Byfuglien and Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Jets, who won their second consecutive game. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.
Zack Smith got the Senators within one when a redirected pass hit his skate and went in at 5:05 of the third. Ottawa thought it had tied the game in the waning seconds, but a no-goal call stood when officials determined there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the ruling. Mark Stone had the other goal for the Senators, who also got two assists from Erik Karlsson and 17 saves from Condon.
Ducks 1, Kings 0
Josh Manson scored his second goal of the season and John Gibson stopped 24 shots for his 10th career shutout as Anaheim defeated Los Angeles. The Ducks have won two of three games against the Kings this season, with Gibson recording shutouts in both victories.
Peter Budaj made 28 saves for the Kings, who have lost all three games since their bye week and five of their last six overall. Manson scored 1:19 into the second period. Budaj never saw him streaking along the far circle for a one-timer after Ryan Getzlaf pulled the puck out of the corner.
Manson hadn’t scored since Dec. 15 against Boston, going 28 games between goals. It was his first career goal against the Kings and third point in 11 rivalry games.
Bruins 2, Sharks 1, OT
Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway with 2:24 left on the clock in overtime as Boston picked up where it left off before its six-day bye with a victory over San Jose. Ryan Spooner also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 4-0 under interim coach Bruce Cassidy. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves.
Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, who have lost six of eight heading into their bye week. Four of those losses came in overtime and another in a shootout, giving San Jose nine points during the span. Martin Jones made 25 saves.
Lightning 3, Avalanche 2, OT
Jonathan Drouin stole the puck and scored 2:27 into overtime as Tampa Bay recovered after blowing a two-goal lead to beat Colorado.
Drouin swiped the puck from forward Matt Nieto deep in Avalanche territory and backhanded the game-winner past Calvin Pickard. Tampa Bay was up 2-0 heading into the third when Colorado rallied. Mikko Rantanen scored early in the period and Matt Duchene tied the game with 41.9 seconds left when his shot deflected into the net off a Lightning player.
Brayden Point and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal for the Lightning, who lost some steam in the third period after a 4-3 overtime loss in Dallas the night before. Tampa Bay thought it had another goal on a backhander by Tyler Johnson midway through the third, but it was disallowed for goalie interference.
Flyers 3, Canucks 2
Shayne Gostisbehere had three assists for the first three-point game of his NHL career as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn scored for Philadelphia, and Michael Neuvirth stopped 18 shots in the win.
Markus Granlund and Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver, which got 25 saves from Ryan Miller. The Flyers lost the first two games of their three-game swing through Western Canada — a 3-1 defeat to Calgary on Wednesday and 6-3 setback in Edmonton on Thursday - but picked up a much-needed victory to move within two points of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Canucks, meanwhile, couldn’t build on Saturday’s 2-1 overtime win against Calgary following a 2-4-0 road trip and head into their five-day break four points back of the Flames for the second wild card in the West. — AP
