PITTSBURGH — Newly-acquired Jason Zucker scored his first two goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins during a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
Zucker scored his 15th and 16th of the season in a 1:42 span, with Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher getting a goal in between. Zucker provided 2-0 and 3-1 leads and has nine goals in 12 career games against the Canadiens.
Kris Letang scored a power-play goal against his hometown team and his 13th overall of the season, and Zach Aston-Reese added an empty-net goal.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had three assists. He has points in nine of 11 games since returning from core muscle surgery on Jan. 14, including a current three-game point streak. He has five goals and 17 points in his last 11 games.
The Penguins acquired Zucker from the Minnesota Wild on Monday for forward Alex Galchenyuk, defensive prospect Calen Addison and a conditional 2020 first-round pick.
SHARKS 3, JETS 2: Melker Karlsson and Timo Meier scored in an 89-second span in the third period as San Jose won at Winnipeg.
HURRICANES 5, DEVILS 2: Andrei Svechnikov scored on a perfectly executed rush in the second period to push his point streak to six games and help Carolina beat visiting New Jersey.
RANGERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 1: Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Alexandar Georgiev had 36 saves and visiting New York beat Columbus.
NOTES
WILD: Minnesota fired Coach Bruce Boudreau with the goal of correcting some inconsistencies and making a late-season push for a playoff spot. First-year general manager Bill Guerin said he felt the timing was right to move on from Boudreau and replace him with interim coach Dean Evason despite the Wild having won seven of their past 11 games.
This is the eighth coaching change in the NHL this season, and Boudreau is the sixth fired for team performance reasons. That matches the most for one season in NHL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
OILERS: Edmonton forward Zack Kassian was suspended seven games for kicking an opponent in the chest.
Kassian swung his right leg and kicked Tampa Bay forward Erik Cernak in the chest during a game Thursday night. He was offered an in-person hearing that allowed the department of player safety to suspend him more than seven games and waived that chance.
Late in the first period, Kassian and Cernak were tangled up on the ice after being knocked over by Edmonton’s Josh Archibald. Kassian looked directly at Cernak before kicking him and getting up.
Kassian will forfeit $166,463 as a result of the suspension because he’s a repeat offender. This is his fourth career suspension in 518 regular season games.
BLUES: Jay Bouwmeester had surgery Friday to insert a defibrillator to restore his heart’s normal rhythm after the St. Louis defenseman collapsed on the bench during a game in Anaheim this week.
Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong said the 36-year-old Bouwmeester will be monitored by a team of specialists at the hospital until he is cleared to return to St. Louis.
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