SUNDAY AROUND THE NHL


March 26, 2018 at 12:00a.m.

SUNDAY AROUND THE NHL

Penguins 5, Flyers 4, OT

PITTSBURGH

Bryan Rust redirected a pass from Sidney Crosby 2:25 into overtime and the Penguins finished off a season sweep of the Flyers. The Flyers tied it on Sean Couturier’s goal with 43 seconds left in regulation but the Penguins controlled the extra period. Rust ended it when he got his stick down in time to get a piece of Crosby’s pass from the top of the left circle and knock it by Petr Mrazek to give the Penguins their first sweep of Philadelphia since the 2006-07 season. Crosby’s spectacular goal 17 seconds into the third period gave Pittsburgh a 4-3 advantage. Crosby held off Couturier high in the zone, skated to the left dot and ripped a wrist shot over Philadelphia defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and Mrazek’s glove. Couturier exacted a bit of revenge when he knotted it late to assure the Flyers of at least a point. Still, the Penguins pulled within three points of first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division and moved two points clear of Philadelphia, which pulled into a third-place tie with Columbus. Evgeni Malkin scored his 42nd goal for Pittsburgh, pulling within two of the NHL lead held by Washington’s Alex Ovechkin. Patric Hornqvist and Derick Brassard also scored for Pittsburgh. Justin Schultz had three assists for the Penguins. Matt Murray finished with 41 saves as Pittsburgh improved to 16-1-1 in its past 18 home games.

Canucks 4, Stars 1

DALLAS

Reid Boucher and Nic Dowd scored rare goals on the power play, and Vancouver rallied to beat reeling Dallas. Dallas’ Mattias Janmark started the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period, but Boucher tied it on the same man advantage. It was Boucher’s third goal this season, all coming over two games in Dallas. Dowd scored his third goal with one second left on a four-minute power play in the second period. Jake Virtanen added a third-period goal and Tyler Motte scored into an empty net for Vancouver, which won for only the second time in 10 games. The Stars are on an 0-6-2 skid and have all but fallen out of playoff contention. With six games remaining, they are five points behind St. Louis for the second wild card from the Western Conference. The eight-game losing streak is the longest since the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993.

Associated Press