THURSDAY AROUND THE NHL

Penguins 4, Devils 3, OT

NEWARK, N.J.

Sidney Crosby batted his own rebound out of the air and into the net 19 seconds into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Devils, denying New Jersey a sweep of the four-game season series.Kris Letang stole Taylor Hall’s pass in the opening seconds in the Pittsburgh zone and sent Crosby on a semi-break the other way. His initial shot hit the goalpost, but then the star center pulled his hands in and swatted the puck out of the air — a fitting move on the opening day of baseball season. Crosby extended his goal-scoring streak to five games, including a similar goal against Montreal last Wednesday in which Crosby juggled the puck once on his stick before smacking it from just below shoulder height. Conor Sheary, Letang and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins.

Red Wings 6, Sabres 3

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Anthony Mantha scored his team-leading 24th goal and the Detroit Red Wings snapped an 11-game road losing streak by beating the NHL’s last-place Buffalo Sabres. Dylan Larkin, Darren Helm, Andreas Athanasiou and Danny DeKeyser also scored to help Detroit overcome a 2-0 first-period deficit in a game between teams eliminated from playoff contention. Rookie Evgeny Svechnikov sealed the victory by scoring with 3:01 remaining and added an assist.

Bruins 4, Lightning 2

BOSTON

Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists and the Boston Bruins took over first place in the Eastern Conference with a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tim Schaller and David Pastrnak scored goals 32 seconds apart in the final minute of the first period and Brad Marchand added an empty-net goal with 56 seconds left. J.T. Miller scored a power-play goal for Tampa Bay in the second.

Senators 3, Panthers 2, OT

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on a penalty shot in overtime to lift the Ottawa Senators over the Florida Panthers. Pageau and Magnus Paajarvi also scored in regulation for the Senators, and Craig Anderson stopped 24 shots. Both teams had several chances in overtime before Pageau converted with 16 seconds left after being tripped by Mike Matheson on a breakaway.

Wild 5, Stars 2

ST. PAUL, MINN.

Matt Dumba scored on a power play and had two assists in Minnesota’s three-goal second period, and the Wild moved a step closer to a spot in the playoffs with a win over the fading Dallas Stars. Mikael Granlund sparked the Wild with a short-handed goal in the first period, set up by the first of two assists by Ryan Suter. Zach Parise scored 59 seconds after Dumba and tacked on an empty-netter in the waning seconds, and Jason Zucker had a power-play goal with 11 seconds left before the second intermission.

Predators 5, Sharks 3

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Ryan Ellis scored the go-ahead goal with 9:54 left and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks to set a franchise record with 111 points this season. Craig Smith and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal and an assist, Kyle Turris had a goal, and Filip Forsberg had three assists. Nick Bonino added an empty-net goal with 17 seconds left for Nashville.

Associated Press