SATURDAY aROUND THE NHL

Penguins 4, Flyers 2

PITTSBURGH

Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-leading 34th goal, Matt Murray made 35 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers at blustery Heinz Field. Matt Cullen, Nick Bonino and Chad Ruhwedel also scored for Pittsburgh, which thrilled the capacity crowd at the home of the NFL’s Steelers by capitalizing on some shaky goaltending by Michal Neuvirth. Jake Guentzel picked up two assists, and the Penguins drew within five points of Metropolitan Division-leading Washington. Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Philadelphia, but Neuvirth stopped just 25 of 29 shots as the Flyers dropped to 0-3 in outdoor games. Even worse, Philadelphia failed to pick up any ground as it tries to stay within shouting distance of one of the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.

Blue Jackets 7, Islanders 0

COLUMBUS

Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno each scored twice, sending the Columbus Blue Jackets to a romp over the New York Islanders. The high-energy Blue Jackets didn’t show any rust in their first game back following their five-day break, unlike many teams that have struggled coming out of the bye week this season. Columbus scored three times in the first period, chasing New York goalie Thomas Greiss. David Savard had a goal and three assists, Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson also scored and backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 24 shots for the Blue Jackets, who ended New York’s three-game winning streak. Columbus has a comfortable hold on the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Islanders are in a tight race for the final playoff berth.

Kings 4, Ducks 1

LOS ANGELES

Jonathan Quick made 32 saves in his return from a groin injury, and Tyler Toffoli scored two of Los Angeles’ four third-period goals in a victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Quick missed 59 games after injuring the groin in the first period of the season opener Oct. 12 against San Jose, and his return was complimented by a timely end to Los Angeles’ recent offensive power outage.

Rangers 4, Devils 3, OT

NEWARK, N.J.

Mika Zibanejad scored 1:16 into overtime and the New York Rangers rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils. Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg and Adam Clendening also scored for the Rangers. Antti Raanta had 36 saves, including a stop on a breakaway by Kyle Palmieri just before Zibanejad scored for the first time in 16 games.

Predators 5, Capitals 2

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Filip Forsberg scored the winning goal and had two assists as the Nashville Predators scored three in the second period in beating the Washington Capitals. Forsberg missed becoming the first in NHL history with a hat trick in three consecutive games. He still notched his seventh goal in three games as Nashville won its second straight and third in four games. Roman Josi scored twice, and Mike Fisher and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal. Ryan Johansen had three assists. The Predators denied their former coach Barry Trotz his 700th career win in the building where he started his career as an NHL coach back in 1998. Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals. They beat Edmonton 2-1 in Washington on Friday night and were without T.J. Oshie and defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen.

Canadiens 3, Maple Leafs 2, OT

TORONTO

Andrew Shaw scored 1:06 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat Toronto for their 14th consecutive victory over the Maple Leafs. Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk had the other goals for the Canadiens, who increased their Atlantic Division lead to four points over Ottawa and five on Toronto. They are 3-7-1 in the last 11 games and 2-2-0 under new coach Claude Julien. Carey Price stopped 32 shots for Montreal, including a breakaway by Auston Matthews in overtime.

Associated Press