Matt Murray makes 28 saves, Penguins rout Rangers 7-2
NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Murray stopped 28 shots to keep up his strong play since returning from an injury, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 7-2 on Wednesday night for their season-high seventh straight victory.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Kris Letang and Dominik Simon each had a goal and an assist. Zach Aston-Reese and Tanner Pearson also scored to help the Penguins win for the ninth time in 10 games. Patric Hornqvist had two assists.
Murray improved to 6-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average in six games since coming back from a lower-body injury Dec. 15. He also moved to 8-0 in his career against the Rangers, including the playoffs.
Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Rangers. They are 2-0-2 in their previous four games and 2-0-5 in their past seven at home.
Henrik Lundqvist, picked as an All-Star for the fifth time earlier in the day, gave up six goals on 18 shots before he was pulled less than five minutes into the third period. Alexandar Georgiev replaced him and finished with six saves.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Connor McDavid scored two goals and assisted on another to help Edmonton beat Arizona to end a six-game losing streak.
McDavid raised his team-leading total to 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists). He began the night fourth in the NHL in scoring, and has 12 points in the past five games.
Leon Draisaitl scored his 22nd of the season for Edmonton, his sixth goal in five games. Draisaitl also had an assist and Mikko Koskinen stopped 29 shots for his 12th win.
Brad Richardson scored for Arizona.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Elias Pettersson completed a hat trick in overtime and Vancouver held off Ottawa.
Pettersson's second goal put Vancouver ahead 3-1 early in the third period, but Christian Wolanin and Mark Stone scored for Ottawa, with Stone tying it with 50 seconds left.
Pettersson won it by burying a 2-on-1 feed from Brock Boeser. Pettersson was named an All-Star for the first time earlier in the day. The 20-year-old rookie has 22 goals.
Sven Baertschi also scored for the Canucks, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots.
Matt Duchene also scored for the Senators.
DALLAS (AP) — Miro Heiskanen celebrated his first All-Star nod with two goals, including a third-period tiebreaker, to lift Dallas past New Jersey.
Heiskanen and Tyler Seguin each scored twice after Jamie Benn tied it at 1 in the first period. Heiskanen, a 19-year-old rookie defenseman, has nine goals.
Seguin and Benn have been under scrutiny since Stars CEO Jim Lites ripped Dallas' highest-paid players Friday for "terrible play." Seguin ended a five-game goal drought that dated almost two weeks. Benn scored in his second straight game but didn't play for most of the final two periods because of an upper-body injury.
Kyle Palmieri, Jesper Bratt, Drew Stafford and Brian Boyle scored for New Jersey.
DETROIT (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau's power-play goal with 10:23 left lifted Calgary past Detroit.
Detroit led 2-0 after one period, but the Flames rallied to hand the Red Wings their sixth straight loss. Sean Monahan, TJ Brodie, Elias Lindholm and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary.
Darren Helm, Jacob de la Rose and Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit.
Gaudreau put the Flames ahead 4-3 after a slick play by Matthew Tkachuk, who stickhandled below the goal line and then slipped a pass between goalie Jimmy Howard and the side of the net. Gaudreau was in front to tap in the puck for his 22nd goal of the season.
DENVER (AP) — Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns each had a goal and three assists, Martin Jones made 31 saves and San Jose held off Colorado.
Evander Kane, Joonas Donskoi and Lukas Radil also scored for the Sharks. They extended Colorado's recent slide after a 9-0-2 stretch lifted the Avalanche into first place in the Central Division in early December.
Tyson Jost scored twice, and Matt Calvert and Tyson Barrie also had goals for Colorado. The Avalanche have dropped six in a row, two in overtime, and are 3-8-3 since Dec. 4.
