Penguins rout Hurricanes 6-1 for 6th straight victory
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin each had two goals and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins routed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-1 on Friday night for their season-best sixth straight victory.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists, Sidney Crosby scored a late goal and Olli Maatta also scored. The Penguins took control with three goals - two by Kessel - in a 7:39 span in the second period.
Matt Murray made 27 saves for Pittsburgh, which has won 11 of 13 to overtake Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead. Since the Penguins were shut out by Carolina on Jan. 4, they are 16-3-1.
They were just as busy off the ice, completing a mid-game trade in which they picked up center Derick Brassard from the Ottawa Senators. As part of the complicated three-team deal, they sent defenseman Ian Cole to Ottawa and forward Ryan Reaves to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes.
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal for Winnipeg.
Hellebuyck has three shutouts in six career games against St. Louis.
Nic Petan and Patrik Laine also scored to help the Jets win for the fourth time in five games.
Jake Allen made 19 saves for the Blues. They are 0-4-1 in their last five.
BLACKHAWKS 3, SHARKS 1
CHICAGO (AP) - Jean-Francois Berube made 42 saves in his first start for Chicago.
Defenseman Jan Rutta, activated from injured reserve Friday, and Nick Schmaltz scored, and Artem Anisimov added an empty-netter with 30.5 seconds left.
The Blackhawks won their second straight and third in four games following an eight-game losing streak that dropped them to last place in the Central Division.
Timo Meier scored for San Jose.
NEW YORK (AP) - Mikael Granlund and Eric Staal each scored twice and Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in Minnesota's victory over New York.
The Wild completed a three-game sweep of New York-area teams after beating the Monday night and New Jersey on Thursday night. The Rangers lost for the sixth straight time in regulation. New York is 6-17-0 since beating Buffalo in the Winter Classic on Jan. 1.
Jesper Fast scored for New York.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, CANUCKS 3
LAS VEGAS (AP) - William Karlsson scored two goals and Reilly Smith had three assists to lead the Golden Knights to a victory over the Canucks.
Tomas Hyka, Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Nosek and David Perron also scored for the Golden Knights.
Vegas, which has won five of its past six games, improved to 16-2-1 against Pacific Division teams.
Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury, who is four wins shy of becoming the 13th goalie in NHL history to register 400 career wins, stopped 30 shots.
Vancouver, which dropped to 3-7-1 in February, is 5-11-1 against intradivision foes.