PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kris Letang tied Hall of Famer Paul Coffey's franchise record for career goals by a defenseman, Matt Murray stopped 33 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Letang's shot from the right circle in the second period beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for his 12th goal of the season and 108th of his career to pull the five-time All-Star even with Coffey, who set the mark while playing for the Penguins from 1987-92.
Riley Sheahan, Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby scored during Pittsburgh's first-period outburst. Evgeni Malkin had two assists to become the fifth Russian-born player in NHL history to reach 600 assists. He and Steven Stamkos each drew fighting majors for a tussle early in the third period.
Murray withstood an early barrage by Tampa Bay to hand the Lighting — the highest-scoring team in the NHL — just the fourth regulation loss in their last 25 games. J.T. Miller and Stamkos scored late in the third period to keep the Lighting from being shut out for the first time this season
STARS 1, SABRES 0
DALLAS (AP) — Ben Bishop stopped all 30 Buffalo shots, and Jamie Benn had a first-period goal for Dallas.
Bishop made 13 saves in the third period, getting his third shutout this season and 27th of his career.
Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for Buffalo.
