The Pittsburgh Penguins overtook the New York Rangers in the standings with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh, which curbed the Rangers’ winning streak to seven, now has a point ahead of New York in the standings with two games in hand.
After seeing Chris Kreider open the scoring in the 22nd second, the Penguins responded with three goals.
Evgeni Malkin scored first at 14:24 of the second period on the power play on a pass from Sidney Crosby. The Penguins scored on a massive offense in the ninth straight game, their longest streak since 12 straight games in February 2013.
Moreover, it was Malkin’s 31st career goal against the Rangers, one less than against his favorite team, the Islanders.
Malkin has amassed in points in his last nine meetings.
With 1,179 points, he joined Sergei Fedorov for second most in NHL history for Russian players.
Bryan Rust put the Penguins ahead with 13 seconds left in the middle period.
In the third, Crosby added a second point to his record when he completed a fine two-on-one streak to score his 18th of the campaign.
Kreider closed the gap to just one goal midway through the third with his second of the game, but Rangers were unable to close the gap afterwards.
Kreider’s two goals add up to 49 since the start of the 2022 “calendar” year. He is two goals behind Mike Gartner for the team record.
Vincent Trocheck participated in both of Kreider’s goals.
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves, five more than Igor Shesterkin. Jarry is undefeated in his last seven starts.
Logic is respected at the bottom of the ranking
The logic was respected between the two worst teams in the Eastern Association. The Philadelphia Flyers edged the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3.
The Jackets saw their losing streak extend to five games without a win. They have amassed just 22 points in 32 games since the start of the campaign. A level ahead of them in the Association, the Flyers with a harvest of 29 points in 33 games.
Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett led the charge for the Flyers with two goals apiece. Konecny opened the scoring with his 13e net of the shorthanded campaign. After goals from Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson, Morgan Frost tied the game.
Tippett put the Pennsylvania team ahead with less than six minutes left in the second period.
Konecny stood out at the start of the third period with a nice fake on the blue line to get rid of a defender before thwarting Daniil Tarasov afterwards. Andrew Peeke approached the Jackets to one goal, but Tippett closed the books with his 10e net of the season, this one scored in an empty net.
After being left out last Saturday, Kevin Hayes was in uniform for the Flyers.
A sixth in a row for the Canes
Jesperi Kotkaniemi set the tone for the game with his fourth of the season after just 20 seconds and the Carolina Hurricanes edged the New Jersey Devils 4-1.
Carolina signed a sixth straight win, the most active streak in the NHL. They collected at least one point in a 12th straight game and climbed to the top of their section.
The Devils suffered a sixth straight loss and slipped two points behind the Hurricanes. They had lost just four games before the start of December — a streak of 23 games.
The lead stayed that way until the second when Carolina added two goals. First the ninth of Jordan Staal and that of Teuvo Teravainen during a numerical disadvantage. Teravainen’s goal was his fifth short of a man since joining the Canes in 2016-17.
Jack Hughes revived the Devils’ hopes with his 17th with less than five minutes left in regulation, but Stefan Noesen pulled it back to three goals 82 seconds later with his sixth of the season.
In the win, Seth Jarvis had an assist in his 100th career game, giving him 56 points, including 23 goals. Only four other members in Hurricanes history have scored more points than Jarvis in their first 100 games since the club moved to Carolina. They are Jeff Skinner (81 points), Sebastian Aho (63 points), Eric Staal (62 points) and Martin Necas (60 points).
With his two assists, Jaccob Slavin had his 25th multi-point game since joining the NHL in 2015-16. Only Justin Faulk outperformed him among Hurricanes defensemen with 27.
Goalkeeper Pyotr Kochetkov repelled the first 35 shots aimed at him in front of the Canes cage. He is undefeated in regular time in his first ten games (8-0-2).
Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek stopped ten of 13 shots aimed at him in the first two periods. Mackenzie Blackwood took over in the third period and made six saves.
The Kraken stops the Blues streak
Jared McCann scored a 15th goal and the Seattle Kraken beat the St Louis Blues 5-2.
After the Blues fumbled in the neutral zone, McCann first had his shot blocked by Colton Parayko. He took the disc and beat Thomas Greiss from a difficult angle when he was behind the goal, on the right side.
Ryan Donato threaded the needle in a fourth straight game, giving the team a 1-0 lead late in the first period.
Carson Soucy, Daniel Sprong and Brandon Tanev were the other scorers for the Kraken, who will play in Vancouver on Thursday. Sprong has scored three times in his last five games.
Morgan Geekie was an accomplice to two nets.
Martin Jones gave in against Parayko and Pavel Buchnevich in the third period. He made 22 saves, while Greiss blocked 28 shots.
The Blues had won four games in a row, dominating their rivals 15-5 on goals.
Their five-game road trip wraps up Friday in Las Vegas.
A third straight win for the Kings
Alex Iaffalo broke the deadlock late in the second period and the Los Angeles Kings won 4-1 over the Anaheim Ducks.
Coming to the right mouthpiece, Iaffalo completed a pass from Phillip Danault to register his third goal of the season, at 19:39.
Drew Doughty had scored on the power play earlier in the engagement.
After Iaffalo’s goal, Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala added to the cushion in the third period.
The Kings have thus made their way to a third straight win.
Pheonix Copley made 24 saves. He only faltered in front of Frank Vatrano, in the second period.
Lukas Dostal faced 41 shots for the Ducks, who were looking for a third straight win.
The Kings will host the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
