NHL roundup: Sidney Crosby lifts Penguins past Predators

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored the second of his two goals at 2:21 of overtime for his 1,400th career point, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins snap a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

Crosby added an assist in his 1,100th game, becoming the seventh-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 1,400-point milestone. It was also Crosby’s 77th game-winning goal, one behind Evgeni Malkin and Jaromir Jagr for the most in team history.

On his latest winner, Crosby got a pass from Rikard Rakell and tipped it behind David Rittich near the post.

Jason Zucker also scored in regulation and Rakell assisted on all three goals for the Penguins, who have only three wins in their last 10 games. Casey DeSmith stopped 33 shots for Pittsburgh, which regained a four-point advantage over Washington for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Matt Duchene and Nick Cousins had goals for Nashville, which lost its second straight. The Predators have dropped three of their last five after recently winning 11 of 17 overall. Rittich made 27 saves.

LIGHTNING 5, SABRES 0: Brian Elliott made 28 saves, Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat had goals 17 seconds apart in the first period and Tampa Bay won at home.

Brandon Hagel, Nikita Kucherov and Ross Colton also scored to help the Lightning move past Boston into third place in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay had lost four straight (0-2-2) and avoided its first five-game losing streak since Mar. 2-10, 2014.

Buffalo’s Craig Anderson stopped 23 shots.

WILD 6, KINGS 3: Matt Boldy and Jared Spurgeon each had a goal and an assist, helping Minnesota rally from an early three-goal deficit to win in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kirill Kaprizov tied a franchise record with his 42nd goal, and Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Nick Bjugstad also scored as Minnesota ended a two-game slide and improved to 10-1-2 in its last 13 games. The Wild are also 8-0-1 in their last nine home contests.

Eleven players had points for Minnesota, which had its first three-goal comeback win of the season. The Wild are in a second-place tie with St. Louis in the Central Division with a game in hand.

HURRICANES 5, DUCKS 2: Jordan Staal capped his fourth career hat trick – and first in 10 years – with an empty-net goal and Carolina settled in defensively after an offense-filled first period to win in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Martinook also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes. Svechnikov had an assist and Nino Neiderreiter assisted on two goals.

Staal, whose last three-goal game came on April 18, 2012, at Philadelphia while with Pittsburgh, scored the only goals after the first period, knocking in a rebound at 13:42 of the third and then notching the clincher with 1:08 left.

STARS 6, BLACKHAWKS 4: Jason Robertson scored his team-leading 33rd and 34th goals about three minutes apart, and Dallas strengthened its hold on a wild-card spot with a win in Chicago.

Robertson’s first goal snapped a 3-all tie with nine minutes left in the second. He then beat Chicago goalie Kevin Lankinen with a perfect screened shot with 5 1/2 minutes left, allowing Dallas to take charge of what had been a seesaw contest and giving Chicago its seventh straight defeat (0-5-2).

Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists, and Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn each added a goal and an assist to help Dallas rebound from a rough 3-1 loss at home to New Jersey on Saturday.

JETS 4, SENATORS 3: Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and two assists to lead Winnipeg won in Ottawa, Ontario.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, Paul Stastny and Kyle Connor also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves.

Brady Tkachuk had a pair of power-play goals for the Senators, who were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Rangers. Josh Norris also scored, while Mads Sogaard, making his second NHL start, stopped 21 shots.

NOTES

KRAKEN: Seattle agreed to terms with top prospect Matty Beniers, making him the latest University of Michigan player to jump immediately to the NHL.

Beniers posted an illustration of himself standing on a frozen Elliott Bay looking at the Seattle skyline with the message, “See you soon” after finalizing his three-year entry-level contract. He’s expected to join the team right away.

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