Jiri Kulich scored twice for the Buffalo Sabres in a 7-3 win against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, spoiling a record night for Penguins star Sidney Crosby.

Buffalo’s Tage Thompson, Peyton Krebs, Tyson Kozak and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist. Defensemen Bowen Byram and Rasmus Dahlin each had two assists, and James Reimer made 23 saves for the Sabres, who have won five of seven.

Crosby scored to set an NHL record with his 20th season averaging at least one point per game, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky. Blake Lizotte and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Penguins, who have lost three in a row.

Tristan Jarry stopped eight of 12 shots for Pittsburgh before he was replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic, who finished with 15 saves.

Wild 4, Capitals 2

Frederick Gaudreau scored a pair of goals and Minnesota handed Washington a rare loss in Saint Paul, Minn.

Matt Boldy finished with a goal and an assist for the Wild, who snapped a two-game skid. Jon Merrill added a goal. Matt Roy and Brandon Duhaime scored one goal apiece for Washington, which lost in regulation for only the second time in its past 12 games.

Washington’s Alex Ovechkin tallied three shots on goal in 19:03 of ice time but did not find the back of the net. Ovechkin remained at 889 career goals, five shy of matching Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.

Stars 5, Flames 2

A quartet of Stars collected a goal and an assist to lead visiting Dallas past Calgary.

Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen each tallied a goal and a helper for the Stars, who are riding a four-game winning streak and sit four points behind the Winnipeg Jets for top spot in the Central Division. Wyatt Johnston also scored, and Casey DeSmith stopped 46 shots.

Nazem Kadri scored both goals for the Flames, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Dustin Wolf stopped 14 shots.

Flyers 6, Canadiens 4

Hours after firing their head coach, Philadelphia received two goals apiece from Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov in a home victory over Montreal.

With the team riding a six-game losing streak (0-5-1), the Flyers parted ways with John Tortorella earlier Thursday. Brad Shaw took over behind the bench on an interim basis, and the players delivered an inspired effort in his debut.

Couturier and Michkov each added an assist, while Tyson Foerster and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored for Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 26 saves, sending Montreal to its fourth straight defeat (0-2-2). Alex Newhook, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak and Patrik Laine scored for the Canadiens, while Jakub Dobes made 24 saves.

Senators 4, Red Wings 3

Ottawa opened up a three-goal lead then held off a furious rally by host Detroit.

Thomas Chabot, Tim Stutzle, David Perron and Michael Amadio scored for the Senators. Linus Ullmark made 31 saves as Ottawa, which leads the Eastern Conference wild-card race, won the season series 3-1.

Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings. Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored, while Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot combined for 28 saves.

Lightning 8, Utah Hockey Club 0

Jake Guentzel scored twice and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy tied for the league lead with his sixth shutout as Tampa Bay walloped visiting Utah.

Guentzel broke a tie with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl with his NHL-leading 16th power-play tally in a four-goal second period, while Nikita Kucherov hit the net and dished three assists. Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for his 40th career shutout.

Brayden Point potted his 300th career goal and had an assist, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, and Victor Hedman added a goal and two assists. Gage Goncalves also tallied. Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka surrendered four goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Jaxson Stauber, who stopped six shots.

Avalanche 4, Kings 0

Martin Necas and Logan O’Connor scored 92 seconds apart in a three-goal second period and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 22 shots as surging Colorado beat Los Angeles in Denver.

Necas finished with two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist as Blackwood notched his fourth shutout of the season and third with Colorado. Cale Makar had two assists for the Avalanche, who have won four in a row. Nathan MacKinnon picked up an assist to extend his home point streak to 23 games.

David Rittich made 22 saves for Los Angeles, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Blues 3, Predators 2

Dylan Holloway scored twice, including the tiebreaker with 7:41 left, as visiting St. Louis extended its winning streak to eight games with a victory over Nashville.

Cam Fowler scored the tying goal less than a minute before Holloway’s winner for the Blues, who overturned a 2-0 deficit. St. Louis’ Robert Thomas had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 16 saves.

Fedor Svechkov and Brady Skjei tallied for the Predators, who have lost six of eight (2-5-1). Juuse Saros finished with 18 saves.

Kraken 6, Oilers 1

Jaden Schwartz scored twice as host Seattle collected five goals in the second period en route to a blowout of Edmonton.

Jani Nyman, Andrei Burakovsky and Jared McCann each collected one goal and one assist while Matty Beniers added a score for the Kraken, who set a franchise record for goals in a period during a home game and snapped a three-game skid (0-2-1). Joey Daccord made 36 saves.

Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers, who have lost three of four games. Calvin Pickard stopped 24 of 29 shots before Olivier Rodrigue turned aside 7 of 8 shots in relief in his NHL debut.

Sharks 6, Maple Leafs 5 (SO)

Macklin Celebrini scored the shootout winner as host San Jose overcame Toronto scoring twice in the final minute of the third period to force overtime.

Tyler Toffoli tallied twice in regulation and added an assist while William Eklund had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who improved to 3-2-0 over their past five. Collin Graf and Alexander Wennberg also scored in regulation. Timothy Liljegren added two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves.

William Nylander scored twice, John Tavares had a goal and an assist and Auston Matthews and Scott Laughton also tallied for Toronto, which took over the sole position of first place in the Atlantic Division. Mitch Marner had three helpers for the Maple Leafs, Matthew Knies added a pair of assists and Joseph Woll stopped 30 shots.

–Field Level Media