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Crosby scores 500th goal, Penguins rally past Flyers in OT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored his 500th goal and Pittsburgh teammate Kris Letang capped a late rally to send the Penguins past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in overtime Tuesday night.
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Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) scores his 500th NHL career goal on Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored his 500th goal and Pittsburgh teammate Kris Letang capped a late rally to send the Penguins past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in overtime Tuesday night.

Crosby became the 46th player in NHL history to reach the milestone when he beat Carter Hart from the goal line on the power play at 16:34 of the first period to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. Crosby’s teammates poured over the boards in a raucous celebration after the 34-year-old joined Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux as the only Penguins players with 500 career goals.

Jake Guentzel and Chad Ruhwedel scored 18 seconds apart in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit, and Letang’s wrist shot by Hart 31 seconds into OT gave the Penguins their fourth straight win.

Dominik Simon also scored for Pittsburgh, and Casey DeSmith stopped 23 shots as the Penguins stayed atop the Metropolitan Division by sending the last-place Flyers to their third consecutive loss.

Scott Laughton, Nick Seeler and Justin Braun scored during a second-period outburst as the Flyers took command. Hart finished with 29 saves but lost his third straight start. Claude Giroux also scored for Philadelphia.

STARS 4, AVALANCHE 1

DENVER (AP) — Joe Pavelski scored twice, Jake Oettinger made 46 saves and Dallas ended Colorado’s 19-game point streak.

The Avalanche hadn’t lost in regulation since Dec. 16, when the Predators beat them 5-2 in Nashville. It was Colorado’s first defeat at home in regulation since losing to Vegas 3-1 on Oct. 26 in the team’s third home game of the season.

Dallas finally stopped the Avalanche’s franchise-record point streak (17-0-2) along with their home point streak at 22 games (20-0-2), also a club mark. Colorado, which had won 12 of 13 overall, leads the NHL with 72 points in 47 games.

Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars.

Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche, and Pavel Francouz stopped 16 shots.

RANGERS 2, BRUINS 1, SO

NEW YORK (AP) — K’Andre Miller scored the deciding goal in the ninth round of a shootout and New York edged Boston for its third straight win.

Filip Chytil scored the tying goal in the third period to help the Rangers, playing their first game in two weeks, win for the eighth time in 11 games. Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 shots to win for the 10th time in 11 starts and improve to 23-5-2 on the season.

Charlie Coyle scored in the first period for the Bruins, who have lost six of nine (3-4-2). Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves.

LIGHTNING 6, DEVILS 3

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored in a 3:04 span of the third period as Tampa Bay rallied from an early two-deficit to beat New Jersey.

Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn scored 41 seconds apart late in the second to tie it 3-all. Pat Maroon also scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves as Tampa Bay improved to 8-2-1 in its last 11 games.

Devils rookie Dawson Mercer had a goal and two assists for New Jersey, which has lost nine of 11. Jack Hughes and Yegor Sharangovich each added a goal and an assist. Jon Gillies made 24 saves before being lifted after the sixth Lightning goal.

Hedman broke the 3-all tie with a slap shot from the point at 7:17 of the third.

CAPITALS 4, PREDATORS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including his 30th of the season, to lead Washington over Nashville.

Joe Snively and Nick Jensen also scored for the Capitals, and Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves.

Michael McCarron had the lone goal for the struggling Predators in their third straight loss. Juuse Saros stopped 24 shots.

Washington’s victory gave coach Peter Laviolette his 700th career win. He is third among active coaches, trailing only New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz (894) and Lindy Ruff (772) of the New Jersey Devils.

BLUES 5, SENATORS 2

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko had two goals and an assist to lead St. Louis over Ottawa.

Tarasenko’s first goal put the Blues up 2-1 in the second period, and his second was an empty-netter that came with about two minutes left in a game that was well in hand.

Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas and Oskar Sundqivst also scored for the Blues. Ville Husso made 18 saves.

Tim Stutzle and Parker Kelly scored for the Senators. Matt Murray made 27 saves before getting injured in the third period.

SABRES 6, ISLANDERS 3

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Victor Olofsson scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 2:55 left in Buffalo's victory over New York.

Alex Tuch added a goal and an assist for the Sabres. Tage Thompson, Kyle Okposo and Henri Jokiharju also scored. Dylan Cozens had three assists and Peyton Krebs added two. Dustin Tokarski made 30 saves.

Kyle Palmieri scored twice for the Islanders, who finished out a four-game trip on a three-game skid. Anders Lee had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 35 of 39 shots.

FLAMES 6, BLUE JACKETS 2

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Tyler Toffoli scored in his Calgary debut and the Flames won their season-high seventh straight game by beating Columbus.

Erik Gudbranson, Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Dillon Dube and Adam Ruzicka also scored for the Flames (27-13-6), who moved one point ahead of Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division. Calgary holds two games in hand.

Rookie goaltender Dan Vladar made his first start in 39 days and his first home appearance of the season for the Flames and finished with 18 saves, improving to 7-3-1.

Calgary has also won seven in a row at home, outscoring the opposition 35-8 during that span.

Adam Boqvist and Zach Werenski scored for the Blue Jackets, who entered with a three-game winning streak and had won five straight on the road.

Toffoli was acquired Monday in a trade with Montreal.

OILERS 5, KINGS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kailer Yamamoto scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:46 left and Edmonton beat Los Angeles to remain undefeated under new coach Jay Woodcroft.

Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal for the Oilers, who are 3-0-0 since Woodcroft replaced Dave Tippett last Thursday. Zach Hyman and Evander Kane added empty-net goals, and Mike Smith made 30 saves.

Phillip Danault and Arthur Kaliyev scored for the Kings, who had their six-game point streak snapped. Cal Petersen allowed three goals on 27 shots.

Continuing their recent turnaround, the Oilers moved one point ahead of the Kings for third place in the Pacific Division.

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