Washington Capitals’ Garnet Hathaway, center, gets a stick to the face from teammate Nic Dowd as they collide with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby along the boards during the first period Tuesday night. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored 1:11 into overtime, lifting the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-4 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
Crosby collected his third goal of the season when he pounced on a rebound off a Kris Letang shot and flipped it by Vitek Vanecek and into the open net to give the Penguins their second win over their rivals in three days.
Colton Sceviour, Evgeni Malkin, Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentzel also scored for Pittsburgh. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists as the Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit. Casey DeSmith finished with 22 saves and added his first career assist when he set up Blueger for a rare shorthanded three-on-five goal in the second period.
Tom Wilson scored twice for the Capitals. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller both picked up their first goals of the season but Washington let leads of 3-1 and 4-2 slip away.
FLYER 3, SABRES 0: Brian Ellliott made 40 saves, Travis Konecny scored his fourth goal in four games and Philadelphia won at home.
Jakub Voracek also scored and Kevin Hayes added an empty-netter for Philadelphia, which bounced back from Monday night’s 6-1 loss to the Sabres.
Konecny broke the scoreless tie with 2:09 left in the second on a breakaway, beating Carter Hutton with a backhand that went through the goalie’s legs. Oskar Lindblom set up the goal with a long bank pass from deep in the defensive zone that landed perfectly on Konecny’s stick in Buffalo’s zone.
Voraeck made it 2-0 with 6:17 remaining, finishing a two-on-one with Hayes.
PANTHERS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4: Frank Vatrano scored 2:50 into overtime as hoste Florida beat winless.
Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals for Florida and Patric Hornqvist also scored. Keith Yandle had a goal and an assist.
RED WINGS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2: Tyler Bertuzzi scored 15 seconds into overtime and Bobby Ryan became the first player to score four times in his first three games with Detroit, leading the Red Wings to a a win at home.
Bertuzzi was credited with the winning goal after the puck went off him and into the net following a rebound off Dylan Larkin’s shot.
Ryan had a tie-breaking goal late in the second after Anthony Mantha pulled Detroit into a 1-all tie with a power-play goal early in the period.
DEVILS 4, RANGERS 3: Jack Hughes had two goals and an assist in a three-goal second period, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 47 shots and the Devils won at New York.
Miles Wood had a goal and an assist, and Travis Zajac also scored to give New Jersey at least a point in each of its first three games (2-0-1).
Blackwood, starting for the third straight game, made seven saves in the first period and 20 each in the second and third – finishing five short of his career high set last season.
Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play, and Filip Chytil also had a goal for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each had two assists.
JETS 4, SENATORS 3: Nikolaj Ehlers scored in overtime after visiting Winnipeg twice rallied from a two-goal deficit.
Ehlers scored at 2:20 of overtime, moments after Winnipeg goalie Laurent Brossoit made a nice stop against Drake Batherson.
Josh Morrissey tied it with 1:17 left in regulation with Brossoit on the bench for the extra attacker.
NOTES
COVID-19: The NHL has postponed its first game since the league’s season began, calling off Tuesday night’s game between Carolina and the Predators hours after the Hurricanes won the first of a two-game set in Nashville.
“The decision was made out of an abundance of caution to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts,” the league said.
The NHL did not specify which team prompted the postponement. The NHL already postponed the start of the Dallas Stars’ season after six players and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
For the Hurricanes, captain Jordan Staal had been the only player on the NHL’s unavailability list due to COVID-19 protocols. Staal had been on that daily list since Friday, with the Hurricanes losing at Detroit on Saturday then winning 4-2 at Nashville on Monday in that span.
Nashville had forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Luca Sbisa on the unavailability list Jan. 13 and 14 with the Predators claiming Sbisa off waivers from Winnipeg on Jan. 12. Granlund has remained on the list. He arrived Jan. 15 from Finland and currently is in quarantine.
The NHL’s unavailability list covers multiple factors such as isolation due to a confirmed positive test or quarantines due to being “a high risk close contact.”
The league did not announce a make-up date yet. The teams aren’t scheduled to play again in Nashville until the end of the season with back-to-back games on May 7-8.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said last week realigning divisions was done in part in case games needed to be postponed.
Dallas Stars Coach Rick Bowness said he was making out his team’s schedule “in pencil” in case it needed to be changed. Their first four games were postponed after 17 players tested positive.
Now the Predators, who gave players Tuesday off after the postponement, are scheduled to visit Dallas on Friday night for the Stars’ season opener. The Hurricanes are scheduled for their home opener Thursday against Florida, the first of six straight home games including visits from Tampa Bay and Dallas.
TRADE: Colorado and Minnesota have swapped veteran defensemen, with the Avalanche acquiring Greg Pateryn and the Wild receiving Ian Cole.
The trade represents a significant salary-cap savings for Colorado from Cole’s $4.25 million hit to Pateryn’s $2.25 million. It gives the Avalanche more room to work with for later deals.
PUCK TRACING: The NHL is temporarily ditching microchipped pucks six days into the season after concerns were raised about their performance.
The league announced games from Tuesday night on would be played with pucks made for last season. A review showed the first supply of pucks used for tracking weren’t finished the same way as those from the playoffs, when player and puck tracking made its debut in the conference finals.
The first 44 games this season were played with the “tracking” pucks that players and coaches could tell were a little off.
“I was aware that the NHL was using a different puck,” Philadelphia Flyers Coach Alain Vigneault said. “I thought a couple times it didn’t slide as well on the ice. We didn’t know if that was the puck or the ice surface.”
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said off-hand Monday, “These pucks are bouncing everywhere.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
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.