Zucker scores 2, Penguins beat Canadiens 4-1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Newly-acquired Jason Zucker scored his first two goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins during a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
Zucker scored his 15th and 16th of the season in a 1:42 span, with Montreal’s Tomas Tatar getting a goal in between. Zucker provided 2-0 and 3-1 leads and has nine goals in 12 career games against the Canadiens.
Kris Letang scored a power-play goal against his hometown team and his 13th overall of the season, and Zach Aston-Reese added an empty-net goal.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had three assists. He has five goals and 17 points in his last 11 games.
Tristan Jarry made 34 saves for the Penguins, who have 10 wins in their last 14 games.
The Penguins acquired Zucker from the Minnesota Wild on Monday for forward Alex Galchenyuk, defensive prospect Calen Addison and a conditional 2020 first-round pick.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Melker Karlsson and Timo Meier scored in an 89-second span in the third period to lift San Jose over Winnipeg.
Marcus Sorensen also scored for the Sharks, who are 4-3-0 in their last seven games.
Aaron Dell made 29 saves for San Jose.
Kyle Connor scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season and Blake Wheeler had a goal and assist for the Jets.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots for Winnipeg, which was playing the fourth game of a season-long six-game homestand (2-2-0). The Jets are 4-3-1 in their last eight games.
RANGERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Alexandar Georgiev had 36 saves and the Rangers topped Columbus.
Kreider scored on a wrist shot from the slot with 3:12 left in the game, just 2 seconds after a Rangers’ power play ended and Columbus’ Jakob Lilja was rushing out of the box. Ryan Strome added an empty-netter with 1:11 left.
Pavel Buchnevich also scored for the Rangers, who have won four straight and are 7-2 in their last nine.
Oliver Bjorkstrand got his team-leading 19th goal and Elvis Merzlikins had 25 saves for injury ravaged Columbus, which is winless in its last four games (0-2-2).
HURRICANES 5, DEVILS 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored on a perfectly executed rush in the second period to push his point streak to six games and help Carolina beat New Jersey.
Nino Niederreiter and Warren Foegele scored first-period goals for the Hurricanes. Martin Necas and Joel Edmundson added two more in the third period.
Petr Mrazek finished with 35 saves for Carolina after losing his previous three starts.
Mirco Mueller and Joey Anderson scored for the Devils. Louis Domingue had 26 saves in a losing effort.
