PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each had a goal and two assists, and the Pittsburgh Penguins picked up their first home victory of the season by beating the New Jersey Devils 5-1 Saturday.
Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo scored his first NHL goal, Brandon Sutter got his first with Pittsburgh and Kris Letang also found the back of the net for the Penguins, who handed the Devils their first loss in regulation this season.
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Marc-Andre Fleury had to stop just 15 shots for the win. Evgeni Malkin and Pascal Dupuis had two assists apiece.
Andy Greene scored a short-handed goal for the Devils. Martin Brodeur was sharp through two periods, stopping 17 of 19 shots, but allowed three goals in the third as the Penguins turned a one-goal game into a rout.
The Penguins had been the only NHL team yet to earn a point at home. They were outscored 9-3 in losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders.
This time, Pittsburgh looked more like the team that shut out the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night as opposed to the sloppy defensive club that showed up during a 4-1 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday.
Sutter staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead early in the second period, chipping his own rebound over Brodeur’s pads. Kunitz took advantage of a fortunate bounce to give the Penguins a two-goal lead midway through the period. Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov whiffed on a breakout attempt in his own zone and the puck slid to Kunitz, who was there to wrist a shot past Brodeur from between the circles.
The Penguins tried to take a three-goal lead on the power play, but the Devils cut the deficit in half with their NHL-best second short-handed goal of the season. Dainius Zubrus sent a spinning feed along the boards to a streaking Greene in the slot, and he went to the backhand to beat Fleury, making it 2-1.
Letang started the third-period outburst less than 3 minutes in, sneaking into the slot to put a shot past Brodeur. Crosby made it 4-1, finishing a rush down the left-wing boards with a wrist shot.
Bortuzzo scored the first of his career 2 minutes later.
AVALANCHE 2, OILERS 1: P.A. Parenteau and Jamie McGinn scored goals 2 minutes, 43 seconds in the second period and host Colorado rallied to beat Edmonton.
Paul Stastny also scored and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves for Colorado, which remained unbeaten in three home games. Matt Duchene and McGinn added assists.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 37 shots and Nail Yakupov scored for the Oilers.
The injury-riddled Avalanche suffered another loss when defenseman Ryan Wilson left the game in the second period with a leg injury. He did not return.
Even without Wilson, Colorado was able to hold on as the Oilers tried desperately for the equalizer in the third. They hit a post and Varlamov made a big save on Ales Hemsky on a point-blank shot midway through the period.
Edmonton’s last best chance came on a power play with 3:17 left. The Oilers pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker 30 seconds later but the Avalanche took advantage when Stastny jumped out of the box and scored an empty-net goal to seal it. It was his third goal in the last two games.
Edmonton got on the board first when Hemsky sent a pass through the legs of defenseman Greg Zanon right to Yakupov, who beat Varlamov 58 seconds into the game.
The lead stood until late in the second period when Parenteau redirected a shot in front of the net with 7:53 left in the frame. The Avalanche didn’t wait long for their second goal. Duchene stole the puck from Hemsky along the boards and fed a charging McGinn, who tipped the pass over Dubnyk’s right shoulder to make it 2-1.
CANADIENS 6, SABRES 1: Rene Bourque and David Desharnais each scored twice to lead host Montreal over Buffalo.
Carey Price made 30 saves for the Canadiens for his fifth win of the season. Lars Eller added a goal and two assists, while rookie Brendan Gallagher also scored.
Ryan Miller stopped 17 shots over two periods for Buffalo before being replaced in the third by backup Jhonas Enroth.
Thomas Vanek broke Price’s shutout bid at 3:01 of the third.
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