PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby returned from an upper-body injury to pick up a goal and two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins drilled the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Wednesday night.
The Pittsburgh captain missed three games after getting hurt last week, the latest setback during a forgettable early opening quarter of the season for the perennial Stanley Cup contenders.
Crosby provided Pittsburgh with a needed spark. He set up Jake Guentzel for a goal less than 4 minutes into the game and provided a highlight-reel goal later in the opening period when he raced to the net and smacked in a rebound past Anton Khudobin to give Pittsburgh a three-goal lead.
Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins.
Casey DeSmith was rarely tested early and finished with 18 saves.
Mattias Janmark spoiled DeSmith’s bid for a shutout with a third-period goal.
Khudobin was pulled after Pearson beat him with a slap shot on the breakaway made it 5-0. Khudobin stopped just 11 of 16 shots.
RANGERS 5, ISLANDERS 0: Alexandar Georgiev stopped 29 shots for his first career shutout, Filip Chytil scored for the fifth straight game, and the Rangers won at home.
Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Cody McLeod, Neal Pionk and Kevin Hayes also scored to help the Rangers win for the ninth time in 11 games (9-1-1). Kevin Shattenkirk and Mika Zibanejad each added two assists in the Rangers’ seventh straight win at home.
The Rangers ended an eight-game skid (0-7-1) to the Islanders, who had won 12 of the previous 13 meetings, including a 7-5 win at home last Thursday night.
CAPITALS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2: Tom Wilson, Andre Burakovsky and Michal Kempny scored to give Washington an early lead, and the host Capitals held on to win their third straight.
NOTES
AVALANCHE: The NHL fined forward Mikko Rantanen for embellishment .
Rantanen was fined $2,000 under the league’s program designed to discourage diving and embellishment. He was warned for a play on Oct. 16 at the New York Rangers. His second offense occurred late in the second period against Boston on Nov. 14, with Patrice Bergeron receiving a penalty for hooking and Rantanen for embellishment.
PANTHERS: Forward Vincent Trocheck has had surgery for a fractured ankle and may play again this season.
Trocheck was hurt when twisted his right leg while chasing the puck near the end boards in Monday night’s game at Ottawa. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
The 2017 NHL All-Star has three goals and 14 points in 18 games this season.
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