PITTSBURGH — Chris Kunitz scored twice during a four-goal second period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

Pascal Dupuis, Jayson Megna and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, which snapped San Jose’s six-game winning streak. Sidney Crosby added three assists in his 500th career game to push his point total to an NHL-leading 42.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 44 saves for the Penguins against the league’s highest-scoring team. Pittsburgh played without star Evgeni Malkin, scratched after sustaining a lower-body injury during the morning skate.

Tomas Hertl got his 14th goal for San Jose. Antti Niemi made 23 saves but was pulled after two periods, and the Sharks lost in regulation for only the fourth time this season.

RANGERS 3, SABRES 1: Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to lead New York at Buffalo.

Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Mats Zuccarello scored for New York, which bounced back from a 5-2 loss to Winnipeg on Monday.

Advertisement

Tyler Ennis scored and Ryan Miller made 28 saves in a loss that drops the Sabres to 3-12-1 at the First Niagara Center.

Lundqvist, playing his first game since signing a seven-year, $59.5 million contract, was hardly troubled through 40 minutes, but was outstanding in the third period.

LIGHTNING 3, SENATORS 1: Martin St. Louis scored two goals, Ben Bishop won his 15th game this season and host Tampa Bay beat Ottawa.

Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning, who were coming off consecutive shutout losses to Columbus (1-0) and Pittsburgh (3-0). Ondrej Palat had two assists.

MAPLE LEAFS 3, STARS 2: Trevor Smith scored at 4:18 of overtime to help host Toronto end a five-game skid with a victory over Dallas.

The Maple Leafs won for the first time since Nov. 23 despite being outshot for the 10th consecutive game, this time 50-24, but goalie Jonathan Bernier was hot, stopping 48 shots.

Advertisement

HURRICANES 5, PREDATORS 2: Jeff Skinner had a hat trick to lead Carolina to victory at Nashville.

Skinner has five goals in his last two games.

Justin Faulk and Riley Nash also scored for Carolina, winners of its past two.

PANTHERS 5, JETS 2: Dylan Olsen scored his first NHL goal to help host Florida beat Winnipeg and snap a three-game losing streak.

Jimmy Hayes, Nick Bjugstad, Tomas Fleischmann and Erik Gudbranson also scored for the Panthers. Tim Thomas stopped 29 shots and Scottie Upshall had two assists. Olsen also added an assist.

Olli Jokinen and Andrew Ladd scored for Winnipeg. Ondrej Pavelec made 21 saves.

Advertisement

WILD 4, BLACKHAWKS 3: Marco Scandella’s slap shot with 1:48 left, the defenseman’s first goal this season, lifted host Minnesota over Chicago.

Jonas Brodin scored on a power play with 5:39 remaining to tie the game for the Wild.

BLUES 5, ISLANDERS 1: Derek Roy and David Backes scored power-play goals 2:31 apart in the second period to lead host St. Louis over the struggling New York Islanders.

NOTES

PREDATORS: Goaltender Pekka Rinne underwent an MRI, and the results were improved according to the team.

Rinne will continue limited activity for the next two weeks and, if all goes well, will advance to more strenuous conditioning later in December.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.