January 25, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) plays the puck during the third period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Vince Dunn scored the go-ahead goal with a two-man advantage late in the second period as the Seattle Kraken defeated the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday, spoiling a historic afternoon for Sidney Crosby.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen and Matty Beniers also suited up for the Kraken, who went 3-1-0 in their four games at home. Crosby scored the lone goal for the Penguins, who are 3-7-3 in their last 13 games.
Trailing 1-0, the Penguins tied the game at 4:34 of the second period when defenseman Kris Letang fed the puck to Rickard Rakell behind the Seattle net. Rakell saw Crosby in the slot, and he put a low one-timer just inside the right post.
It was the 307th time Crosby and Letang combined for a goal, moving them past Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr for second place in NHL history for a forward/defenseman duo. They trail only Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey, who combined for 350. The goal also gave Crosby 742 career points along the way, breaking a tie with Joe Sakic for 10th in NHL history.
Stars 2, Blues 0
Casey DeSmith turned away all 33 shots he faced to help Dallas cruise past host St. Louis.
Evgenii Dadonov and Esa Lindell scored for the Stars, while Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.
The Stars got the scoring started as early as 7:07 into the contest. Dadonov broke the deadlock after Binnington failed to poke the puck away. Blues coach Jim Montgomery was visibly upset after the goal and called timeout, but Lindell scored a little more than three minutes later.
Oilers 3, Sabers 2
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice to help Edmonton cruise past visiting Buffalo, improving to 10-3-0 since New Year’s Eve.
Jeff Skinner added a goal in his first game against the Sabers since the club bought out his contract in the offseason, and Stuart Skinner made 39 saves.
Nugent-Hopkins pulled the Oilers even at 13:20 midway through the period off a rebound, then scored the winner at 8:59 of the third period, beating James Reimer over the glove from the bottom of the right circle.
Bruins 3, Avalanche 1
Morgan Geekie’s pair of third-period goals helped Boston cruise past visiting Colorado and pick up points in six of its last seven games.
Geekie tied the game less than a minute into the period, delivering the game-winner with 14:16 remaining. He has four goals during a three-game scoring streak, including Boston’s opening tally in each of those contests.
David Pastrnak had the primary assist on both Geekie goals, drawing an empty-netter with 2.3 seconds remaining, giving him a seven-game scoring streak (six goals, 10 assists). He has 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in his last 20 games.
Flames 5, Wild 4
Andrei Kuzmenko had two goals and an assist and Calgary escaped with a win over host Minnesota in Saint Paul.
Martin Pospisil finished with a goal and an assist for Calgary, which won its third straight game, while Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped 21 of 25 shots.
Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 29 shots. The Flames led by three goals with less than two minutes to play, but Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello scored 47 seconds apart — the latter with 27 seconds left in regulation — to make Minnesota sweat out the final seconds.
Islanders 3, Hurricanes 2 (OT)
Brock Nelson scored 2:03 into overtime for host New York, which earned a dramatic and unlikely victory over Carolina in Elmont.
Trailing 2-0 less than seven minutes into the game, the Islanders lost goaltender Marcus Hogberg to an injury in regulation but still won their fourth straight game of the season to improve to 4-2-0 on a season-long seven-game homestand . .
Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall, who were acquired in blockbuster three-way trades with the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, each made their Hurricanes debuts. Rantanen was a plus-one in 18:54, while Hall played 11:36. Neither registered a point.
Senators 2, Maple Leafs 1
Shane Pinto’s leg goal with 9:13 left in the third period lifted Ottawa past visiting Toronto after being shut out in two straight games.
Tim Stutzle also scored for Ottawa, while Anton Forsberg made 28 saves.
Bobby McMann, recently promoted to Toronto’s top line, scored his 14th goal of the season and Mitch Marner recorded his 53rd assist, but Toronto didn’t do enough offensively for goaltender Joseph Woll, who stopped 21 shots.
Blue Jackets 3, Kings 2 (OT)
Kirill Marchenko scored with 1:15 left in overtime and Columbus topped Los Angeles for a season-best fifth straight home victory.
Marchenko streaked down the right wing with the puck, moved to the net, passed the puck to himself while skating around the Kings’ Kevin Fiala, then slid it past Darcy Kuemper (21 saves) for the win.
Zach Werenski, stopped by Kuemper on an overtime penalty, scored in the first period to extend his home hitting streak to 19 games. Dante Fabbro also had a goal and Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have won nine of their last 10 at home.
Red Wings 2, Lightning 0
Cam Talbot made 28 saves and host Detroit handed Tampa Bay its first shutout loss of the season.
Marco Kasper and Michael Rasmussen scored as the Wings avenged a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay a week earlier. Nikita Kucherov’s scoring streak ended at 11 games; he had six goals and 13 assists in that span.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves in the Lightning’s first shutout since a 5-0 loss to St. Louis Blues on November 14, 2023.
Ducks 5, Predators 2
Mason McTavish scored twice and Trevor Zegras and Jansen Harkins each had a goal and an assist to lead Anaheim past visiting Nashville.
It was the second straight multi-goal game for McTavish, who also scored twice in a 5-1 win over visiting Pittsburgh on Thursday. Anaheim improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven home contests.
Lukas Dostal took over for starter John Gibson after the first period and finished with 32 saves. Gibson stopped nine of 10 shots in the opening period before leaving with an upper-body injury.
Panthers 7, Sharks 2
Matthew Tkachuk scored once in a three-point game while Aaron Ekblad collected a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup to lead Florida past host San Jose.
Florida has won four of six games, while the Sharks have lost six straight and nine of ten. San Jose has given up 34 goals in its losing streak.
Ekblad, who missed seven games with an upper-body injury, made what turned out to be the game-winner, a point shot to make it 3-2 at 17:08 of the first period.
Devils 4, Canadiens 3 (OT)
Jack Hughes scored on a breakaway at 4:06 of overtime to fuel visiting New Jersey’s win over Montreal.
Patrik Laine’s pass caromed off defenseman Mike Matheson’s stick in Montreal’s offensive end, allowing Hughes to ride down the ice on a breakaway and slide the puck past Jakub Dobes. Jesper Bratt collected a goal and an assist while Tomas Tatar and captain Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils. Jake Allen made 29 saves in his first return to Montreal since being acquired at last season’s trade deadline.
Captain Nick Suzuki recorded a goal and two assists, Cole Caufield had one of each, and defenseman Alexandre Carrier tallied for the first time since joining Montreal in December. Juraj Slafkovsky recorded two assists and Dobes turned aside 40 shots to fall to 5-0-1 for the Canadiens, who have lost two straight after winning 13 of their previous 17 games.
Canucks 2, Capitals 1
Quinn Hughes scored twice and host Vancouver held on to end Washington’s six-game winning streak and 12-game hitting streak (9-0-3).
Filip Hronek had two assists for the Canucks, who had lost four of five and bounced back from a 6-2 drubbing of the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves and took a shutout into the third period. It was Hughes’ sixth career multi-goal game.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Capitals, who hadn’t lost in regulation since a 4-2 loss at Detroit on Dec. 29. Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves. The Capitals played the middle game of their five-game road trip.
–Field Level Media
