NEW YORK — Teddy Blueger scored two goals, Matt Murray made 33 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins surged to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Monday night.
Justin Schultz, Nick Bjugstad and Matt Cullen also scored for Pittsburgh. Phil Kessel and Marcus Pettersson each added two assists.
Murray improved to 6-0-0 against the Rangers in the regular season and 5-0-0 at Madison Square Garden.
Pittsburgh pulled into a tie with the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division with 95 points. Both teams trail Washington by one point for first.
Brendan Lemieux and Vinni Lettieri scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev, coming off a 44-save effort in a 2-1 overtime win Saturday night at Toronto, stopped 31 shots.
Trailing 2-1, the Penguins roared back with three goals in the second.
They tied the game 61 seconds into the period on the power play. Sidney Crosby had the puck behind the Rangers’ net and sent a pass to Schultz, who one-timed it past Georgiev for his second of the season.
Cullen gave the Penguins their first lead when he sent a high shot past Georgiev’s left shoulder at 7:17.
Later in the period, with the Penguins killing a penalty, Blueger skated in on a break and sent a pass to Bryan Rust. The puck deflected behind the net and Rust sent a pass to Blueger, who scored on a backhand for his fifth of the season at 13:12 to make it 4-2.
DEVILS 3, SABRES 1: Cory Schneider overcame an embarrassing early, bad-hop goal from center ice, made 45 saves and got the benefit of having a tying, third-period tally nullified for goaltender interference in leading New Jersey to a win at home.
Blake Coleman and Pavel Zacha scored power-play goals as New Jersey won its second straight and for the fourth time in 14 games (4-9-1). Miles Wood added an empty-net goal on a length-of-the-ice shot.
Sam Reinhart scored his 20th of the season for the Sabres and had his 21st taken away by a Devils’ challenge. Linus Ullmark made 18 saves as the Sabres fell to 1-9-1 in their last 11.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, PANTHERS 5: John Tavares had the first four-goal game of his career as Toronto won at home.
Tavares, who signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Leafs in free agency on July 1, has 45 goals this season, the most by a player in his first season with the franchise.
Tavares, who also has nine three-goal games since being drafted first overall by the New York Islanders in 2009, moved into second place in goals this season, three behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
PREDATORS 1, WILD 0: Juuse Saros made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season and Ryan Johansen scored a short-handed goal as Nashville topped host Minnesota.
With the victory, the Predators clinched a spot in the Western Conference playoffs. They are in second place in the Central Division, two points behind Winnipeg.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 18 of 19 shots for the Wild, who remain two points out of the last playoff spot in the West with five games to play.
NOTES
CAPITALS: President Donald Trump welcomed the reigning NHL champion Washington Capitals to the Oval Office at the White House on Monday to congratulate them for winning the Stanley Cup in June.
Trump said it was an honor to have the team there because he’s a hockey fan and a Capitals fan. The president called the Capitals “winners” and said there’s “an awfully good chance” they’ll win again this season.
Players, coaches and staff members took a private tour of the White House and met with Trump in what was a last chance to be around hockey’s sacred trophy as defending champions.
Two players on the current roster, Canadians Braden Holtby and Brett Connolly, and Devante Smith-Pelly, who is in the minors, said they would not attend.
The Capitals’ White House visit came nine-plus months after their first title in franchise history and with six games left in the regular season before the playoffs begin.
PREDATORS: The Nashville Predators put forward Austin Watson on a long-term injury loan to their American Hockey League affiliate, a week after he earned reinstatement from the NHL.
The Predators announced Monday they have assigned Watson and forward Mikka Salomaki to the Milwaukee Admirals on a long-term injury loan.
The NHL announced last week that Watson had been returned to available status as he entered the follow-up phase of the league’s substance abuse and behavioral health program.
Watson had been suspended Jan. 29 as he entered the second stage of that program.
Watson also had served a suspension for the first 18 games of the season after pleading no contest to a domestic assault charge in July. His girlfriend, Jenn Guardino, issued a statement in October taking blame for the incident in the parking lot of a gas station.
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