NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - 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 4-3 on Thursday night, 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. Matt Murray made 28 saves.
Kyle Palmieri, Hall and Blake Coleman scored for the Devils, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Keith Kinkaid had 31 saves in losing for only the fourth time in his past 16 decisions (12-3-1).
BRUINS 4, LIGHTNING 2
BOSTON (AP) - Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists and Boston took over first place in the Eastern Conference with a win over Tampa Bay.
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.
Torey Krug had two assists, Pastrnak finished with a goal and an assist and Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots for the Bruins, who have 107 points and lead Tampa Bay by a point.
J.T. Miller scored a power-play goal for Tampa Bay in the second and Victor Hedman added a goal in the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 26 saves for the Lightning, who have lost three straight and are 0-3 against the Bruins this season.
BLACKHAWKS 6, JETS 2
CHICAGO (AP) - Emergency goaltender Scott Foster played the final 14 minutes after Chicago lost Anton Forsberg and Collin Delia to injuries, closing out the Blackhawks’ victory over Winnipeg.
Forsberg was expected to start, but he was scratched after the team said he got hurt during warmups. Delia, who was just recalled from the minors Wednesday, then stopped 25 of 27 shots in his NHL debut before he was helped off the ice in the third period due to a lower-body injury.
Enter Foster, a 36-year-old former goaltender at Western Michigan University. After a short warmup, the game resumed and Foster got a big cheer from the crowd of 21,839 when he denied Tyler Myers for his first save about a minute after he came in.
Backed by chants of “Foster! Foster!” and more loud ovations down the stretch, he finished with seven stops. Before facing the playoff-bound Jets, winners of six in a row, Foster’s last competitive action was 20 minutes in relief for the Broncos during his only game in the 2005-06 season.
PREDATORS 5, SHARKS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Ryan Ellis scored the go-ahead goal with 9:54 left and Nashville beat San Jose to set a franchise record with 111 points this season.
With their 50th victory, the NHL-leading Predators padded their lead to four points over Boston in the chase for their first Presidents’ Trophy. Nashville topped the mark of 110 points set in 2006-07 on a night where the franchise also notched its 100th consecutive sellout, a streak that started April 7, 2016, against the Sharks.
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, which won the season series against San Jose 2-1.
Juuse Saros made 39 saves for the win, including stopping Logan Couture on a penalty shot with 1:53 left. The goalie also helped the Predators kill a penalty with 3:10 remaining with a flurry of stops.
Couture, Brenden Dillon and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Sharks. San Jose snapped its nine-game point streak.
KINGS 4, COYOTES 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jeff Carter completed a hat trick by scoring with 4:25 left and Los Angeles beat Arizona.
Carter scored for the third consecutive game, helping the Kings open up a two-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division before the Freeway Faceoff rivals meet Friday night in Anaheim.
Jack Campbell made 20 saves for his second career win, and the Kings won consecutive games for the first time since winning three in a row Feb. 17-20. Anze Kopitar added an empty-net goal with 1.7 seconds remaining, and Tyler Toffoli had two assists.
Kevin Connauton scored for the second straight game and Max Domi had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, who had won two straight over the Kings. Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves.
SENATORS 3, PANTHERS 2, OT
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on a penalty shot in overtime to lift Ottawa over Florida.
The Panthers dropped three points behind New Jersey with a game in hand for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Devils lost to Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime Thursday.
Pageau and Magnus Paajarvi also scored in regulation for the Senators, and Craig Anderson stopped 24 shots.
Aaron Ekblad and Evgeni Dadonov scored for the Panthers, and James Reimer made 27 saves.
BLUE JACKETS 5, FLAMES 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Pierre-Luc Dubois had his first career hat trick and Columbus Blue Jackets stayed hot with a win over Calgary.
Columbus earned its sixth straight road victory and 12th win in its past 13 games, and moved past the Philadelphia Flyers and into third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets are one point back of the second place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Markus Hannikainen and Markus Nutivaara also scored for Columbus. Dubois’ linemates Artemi Panerin and Cam Atkinson each had two assists.
Chris Stewart scored for Calgary, ruining Sergei Bobrovky’s shutout bid with 22 seconds left in the game.
RED WINGS 6, SABRES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Anthony Mantha scored his team-leading 24th goal and Detroit snapped an 11-game road losing streak by beating last-place Buffalo.
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. Jimmy Howard stopped 29 shots.
Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly and Evan Rodrigues scored for Buffalo. Rookie first-round draft pick Casey Mittelstadt set up Rodrigues’ goal by winning a faceoff in the third period for his first career assist in his NHL debut.
WILD 5, STARS 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - 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 victory over fading Dallas.
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 to give the Wild a bigger cushion at the break.
Jamie Benn and Devin Shore scored for the Stars, who have lost eight straight road games, including six in regulation. They’re just 1-7-2 in their past 10 games overall, staggering into position for the knockout punch to their postseason hope. They host a rematch with the Wild on Saturday night.
CANUCKS 2, OILERS 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Defenseman Derrick Pouliot snapped a 1-1 tie with his third goal of the season early in the third period and Vancouver defeated Edmonton for its third consecutive win.
Sam Gagner also scored for the Canucks, who have won four of their past five games.
Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers, who have lost two in a row. Edmonton is 3-2-1 in its past six games.
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