Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Evgeni Malkin scored in his 1,000th career game as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the skidding Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Sunday night.

Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith stopped 25 shots to win for the third time in his past four starts and send the Blackhawks to their fourth straight loss. Chicago has lost six of seven overall.

Richard Rakell had a goal and assist and Kris Letang had two assists each for Pittsburgh, which sealed the outcome on a Jeff Carter empty-net goal with 16 seconds to go.

After allowing three unanswered goals to begin the game, the Blackhawks trimmed the deficit to one with second-period scores from Jujhar Khaira and Patrick Kane. Chicago tied the game at 3 when Philipp Kurashev scored unassisted at 15:49 of the third.

Crosby answered 1:03 later with a backhand that beat Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom, allowing Pittsburgh to stop an eight-game losing streak in Chicago.

Chicago outshot Pittsburgh 16-8 in the first period, registering two fewer shots than the team had during the entirety of Saturday’s 6-1 loss at Boston.

The Penguins, however, capitalized on their second shot of the game to take a 1-0 lead after just 1:04, as Brock McGinn scored on a slap shot from the left circle. It was McGinn’s fifth goal in the past seven games.

While the Blackhawks also boasted an edge in scoring chances in the first 20 minutes, they might have trailed by more. With Pittsburgh on the penalty kill midway through the period, Soderblom stopped Theodor Blueger on a breakaway, and also turned aside another Penguins rush.

Malkin, who scored in his first NHL game on Oct. 18, 2006, extended his point streak to seven games early in the second period. Positioned in front of the crease, Malkin converted a Ryan Poehling pass from behind the net. The Penguins made it 3-0 1:40 later when Rakell scored off a one-timer from Crosby.

Soderblom made 17 saves for Chicago, which outshot Pittsburgh 32-25. The Blackhawks went 0-for-4 on the power play.

–Field Level Media

Captain Boone Jenner scored two goals and Daniil Tarasov made 46 saves to fuel the host Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

Johnny Gaudreau collected a goal and two assists, Sean Kuraly had a short-handed goal and Yegor Chinakhov also tallied as the Blue Jackets improved to 4-1-1 in their last six games. The victory came in Brad Larsen’s 100th game as head coach of Columbus.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, Matthew Tkachuk and Colin White each scored a goal and defenseman Gustav Forsling notched two assists for the Panthers, who have dropped three in a row (0-2-1).

Two-time Vezina Trophy recipient Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves to fall to 8-2-1 in 11 career encounters against his former team.

With Mathieu Olivier serving a tripping penalty, Columbus claimed a 3-2 lead after Eric Robinson’s deflected shot caromed off Kuraly and into the net with 1:57 remaining in the third period. The goal was Kuraly’s sixth of the season and fourth in his last four games.

Gaudreau’s wrist shot from the left circle beat Bobrovsky just under six minutes later to double the advantage. Gaudreau’s goal was his seventh of the season.

Jenner added his second goal of the night and team-leading ninth of the season with 1:49 remaining in the third period before White answered 54 seconds later.

Tkachuk deflected Forsling’s shot past Tarasov to open the scoring at 7:52 of the first period. Tkachuk’s goal was his eighth of the season and third in as many games.

Chinakhov answered 3 1/2 minutes later after beating Bobrovsky between the pads on a breakaway for his third goal of the season.

Kent Johnson wired a shot from the top of the right circle that was deflected home by Jenner to give Columbus a 2-1 lead at 2:53 of the second period.

Ekblad forged a 2-2 tie after he converted a strong drive to the net with 3:22 remaining in the second period. The goal was Ekblad’s second of the season.

–Field Level Media

Coming off what coach Bruce Boudreau called his team’s best game of the season, the Vancouver Canucks will put a two-game winning streak on the line when they host the Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.

Vancouver, which started the season without a win in its first seven games (0-5-2), has gone 6-4-1 since, including an impressive 4-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Friday. Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson each scored twice, and Thatcher Demko finished with 37 saves to win just his second game in 12 decisions (2-8-2) this season.

“I think for the most part, it was our best game of the year,” said Boudreau, who reportedly was on the hot seat after the team’s slow start. “(Demko) has taken a lot of heat this year, but he was the one that sort of made the difference in the game, and that’s great. When you get good goaltending, usually everybody else is playing well, too.”

Those on the ice were just as pleased with the performance.

“I’d have to agree with coach, that was probably one of the only games we played a full 60 minutes, and kind of kept things coming to them,” captain Bo Horvat said.

Boeser, coming off back-to-back 23-goal seasons, scored his first two goals of the season after being blanked in his first 11 games.

“A little weight off my shoulders,” said Boeser, who extended his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists). “Anytime you have a goose egg and you’re supposed to score and help the team win hockey games and we’re not winning hockey games, it weighs on you. That’s what I get paid to do, so I’ve got to make sure I continue to find ways to put the puck in the back of the net.”

Vancouver now faces a daunting three-games-in-six-days stretch that includes meetings with the Golden Knights on Monday and Saturday in Las Vegas sandwiched around a Wednesday matchup at defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado.

Vegas is coming off a 4-3 overtime loss at Edmonton on Saturday which snapped a six-game road winning streak. Mark Stone scored twice, including one on a second-period penalty shot, and also tied the game at 3 midway through final period. It was his first two-goal game of the season and 22nd of his career.

Connor McDavid raced down the right wing past Alex Pietrangelo and then flipped a shot past goalie Adin Hill and into the top right corner of the net for his league-leading 16th goal of the season 1:17 into overtime to win it for the Oilers.

“It’s tough when the best player in the league makes a play to win it but I thought overall, it’s three-on-three, you never know about that,” Stone said. “We play another 10 minutes of five-on-five, I like our chances.”

Although he wasn’t satisfied with the result, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy was at least glad his team forced the extra period.

“We want two points,” Cassidy said. “We’re a good overtime team and we started with the puck so we had our opportunity to generate something. They checked it back so good for them. … At the end of the day, we’ll take the one (point), we’ll head to Vancouver.”

–Field Level Media

The Colorado Avalanche are short-handed and plugging in AHL players to fill out the lineup, but it hasn’t yet hurt them on the ice.

Colorado has kept winning despite missing key players and being outshot 80-44 over the last two games, but it will face a stiff test at the Dallas Stars on Monday night.

The Avalanche wrap up their three-game road trip at Dallas and look for a road sweep. They beat Carolina in overtime on Thursday despite the Hurricanes holding a 48-15 advantage in shots on goal and then shut out Washington 4-0 on Saturday night.

“We have half our team out right now, and we’re still finding ways to win,” Nathan MacKinnon said. “Our division’s good, obviously like every other year and we need these points. We want to be in a good, solid position when we get healthy.”

Colorado is winning because its star players are carrying a load. Artturi Lehkonen scored the overtime goal on Thursday night and had a goal and an assist on Saturday night, while MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and Cale Makar also scored in the victory versus the Capitals.

“Highly competitive guys that want to be difference-makers at all times, and I think it’s even more important when you got a significant amount of injuries,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Your top guys have to be your top guys and sort of drive the bus, and our guys have been consistently doing that from the start of the season.”

The Avalanche have gotten good goaltending, too. Pavel Francouz stopped 46 shots on Thursday night and Alexandar Georgiev had 32 saves in notching his first shutout this season for Colorado and ninth of his career Saturday.

The Stars are coming off a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night, their second straight victory. Dallas, like Colorado, got significant production from its top players in beating New York.

The Stars also might have rediscovered something against the Islanders. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, who were linemates for nearly a decade before being split up this year, were reunited Saturday night and combined for five points, including the tiebreaking goal from Benn.

“It’s fun. We’ve been together for 10 years now.” Seguin said, “It feels good.”

The reunion wasn’t planned but it could lead to more ice time together for the pair.

“They kind of got out there on a line change, and made the first goal happen,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I decided to keep them together. That line was great (Saturday).”

Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood was able to serve as Jake Oettinger’s backup two days after being taken off the ice on a stretcher in Florida. Wedgewood said his back locked up and the stretcher was just a precaution.

Monday’s game is the first of two that Dallas and the Avalanche will play this week. The teams will meet in Denver on Saturday night, just one of two home games Colorado will play in a stretch of 10 games.

–Field Level Media

The head coaches for the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks are running out of patience.

Both are demanding better efforts from their teams heading into their first meeting in nearly a year on Monday night in San Jose, Calif.

The Senators concluded their three-game homestand with a 5-1 loss to the red-hot New Jersey Devils on Saturday, falling to 2-8-1 in their past 11 games.

Their four-game West Coast trip against the Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings could mark a key point of the season for the Senators, coach D.J. Smith said.

“It’s huge for our season,” he said. “We’ve got four good teams out West to get ourselves together, and you’re going to have to be good on the road. … We’ll give them everything we’ve got.”

The Sharks haven’t taken advantage on their home ice, going 1-7-3 at SAP Center.

San Jose coach David Quinn said the latest defeat, a 2-1 loss against the visiting New York Rangers on Saturday night, was a major step back.

“We stunk,” he said. “It hasn’t happened in a long time, so let’s see how we respond on Monday.”

Quinn mainly criticized his team’s effort against the Rangers.

“One of the reasons they looked as fast as they did is we didn’t compete hard enough,” Quinn said. “We didn’t win enough battles and didn’t get into people, which hasn’t been the case. Just disappointing the way the game unfolded.”

Quinn even called out Evgeny Svechnikov for not attempting a block on Jacob Trouba’s point shot, which was deflected into the net for the first goal of the game with 6:03 remaining in the third period.

“We give them a faceoff goal where guys don’t want to block a shot,” Quinn said. “We don’t want to block a shot, we don’t get coverage and a guy gets a tip that should be covered, and it wasn’t.”

The Rangers found a way to bottle up Erik Karlsson, who entered the game second in the NHL in points (28), seven of which (one goal, six assists) had come in the previous three games.

“Somebody else has got to step up,” Sharks center Nico Sturm said. “(Karlsson’s) not going to have two or three points every night.”

The Senators are hoping to get Thomas Chabot back after he sustained a concussion against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 12.

It was initially announced Chabot would be sidelined for at least a week.

Chabot is the second-highest scoring defenseman for the Senators with six points (three goals, three assists).

The Senators welcomed back another defenseman against the Devils when Artem Zub returned after missing the previous nine games with an upper-body injury.

Zub played 21:01 against New Jersey — second-most among Ottawa defenseman — and contributed four hits and a blocked shot.

Getting healthy on defense should help Ottawa on the offensive end.

The Senators enter Monday ranked 13th in the NHL at 3.29 goals per game, but they’ve struggled to score at key times.

“They’re trying, especially on the power play, whether there’s been chances or not,” Smith said. “Some nights it hasn’t gone in. It’s the timely goals, and it’s the ones you allow.”

–Field Level Media

After absorbing a 6-2 beating Saturday night in St. Louis, the Anaheim Ducks will try to regroup for a bounce-back performance in their rematch against the Blues Monday.

The Blues dominated the first two periods in the opener of this two-game set at Enterprise Center while building a 5-1 lead. That propelled them to their sixth straight victory and sent the Ducks reeling to their fifth loss in their last six games.

“We just did not have it,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “We had one player compete in the first period, and that was the goaltender. It wasn’t until the third period that we got our (stuff) together. I think that makes us even more angry as a group, that ‘why now?’ It’s basically too late.”

Eakins pulled goaltender John Gibson after two periods in favor of Anthony Stolarz. That change sparked a response from the Ducks.

“I think just the first few periods weren’t, you know, the competitive level isn’t high enough,” Ducks center Adam Henrique said. “I think that was just, that was really not X’s and O’s execution. I think it was bottom line, was just the compete level. They had a higher one than us those first two periods.”

This was the 13th time this season that Anaheim allowed four or more goals in a game. The Ducks’ 4.33 goals-against average is the second-worst in the NHL.

“Every night in this league is a hard one,” Eakins said. “You are never, ever going to get an easy one.”

The Blues defeated them despite missing winger Vladimir Tarasenko (illness) and defenseman Colton Parayko (upper body injury).

“At the end of the day, we’re missing one of our best goal-scorers and best players on the team,” Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. “So for us to put up the numbers we did tonight was obviously very welcomed. But that shows the depth on this team. We don’t go just by one guy. It’s a group effort, night-in, night-out.”

Parayko has resumed skating with the team, so there is a chance he could return for this game.

“He was rolling good (in practice) and we miss him when he’s not playing,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “He’s a big part of our team.”

This six-game St. Louis winning streak came on the heels on a franchise-record eight consecutive regulation losses. The Blues got back to the high side of .500 for the first time since Oct. 26.

“I just think when you’re winning it’s always fun,” said Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich, who had two goals and two assists Saturday. “I don’t know how many we win now, six right now? Hopefully we keep going, and it’s always fun when you are winning, good mood in the locker room. Everybody like so positive and all the positive emotions there.”

After going nine games without scoring a goal, Buchnevich has three goals in this last two games. Jordan Kyrou has two goals and five assists in his last four games and Robert Thomas has two goals and six assists in his last six games.

–Field Level Media

The Nashville Predators have had some much-needed success at home this month.

That might not bode well for the struggling Arizona Coyotes, who remain entrenched on the road.

Looking to extend their home point streak to five games, the Predators try to hand the Coyotes a fourth consecutive road defeat on Monday night.

Nashville went 2-3-1 at home in October but is 3-0-1 in November. The Predators’ three-game home winning streak ended with Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, but the club seemed pleased with its overall approach and performance against one of the NHL’s top teams.

“Even though we didn’t win, (Saturday was) probably our best effort (during the first four of a five-game home stretch),” said Predators star Filip Forsberg, who scored in a second straight game Saturday and has recorded 10 of his team-leading 18 points in 10 home games.

“(We) look forward to build on that for more.”

Forsberg has posted two goals and an assist in his last three games against the Coyotes. Nashville, meanwhile, has won three straight and 10 of the last 11 home meetings with Arizona.

The Coyotes, who have played just four times at their home arena in Tempe, Ariz., which they share with the Arizona State hockey team, won the first three games on this stretch of 14 consecutive road contests. However, they’re 0-3 since and coming off a second straight 4-1 defeat at Vegas on Thursday.

“We need to find the balance,” said Arizona coach Andre Tourigny, whose team has been outscored 44-32 while going 5-7-0 away from home.

“I think we’re playing good hockey, but the fact is we believe in ourselves, and we want to be able to win games.

“We’re right there, and now we need to (take) the next step.”

Clayton Keller continues to lead the Coyotes, posting a team-high 18 points. He scored in a third straight game Thursday and has four goals with four assists during his six-game point streak. Keller has recorded a goal and three assists in his last four games versus Nashville.

Teammate Karel Vejmelka (5-5-1, 3.23 goals-against average) has allowed four goals in each of his last two starts. He also gave up four in each of his three starts against the Predators last season. Backup Connor Ingram has yielded 18 goals while going 1-4-0.

Meanwhile, Nashville’s Juuse Saros (6-6-2, 3.09 GAA) has allowed seven goals in his last two starts but is 2-1-1 with a 2.48 GAA versus Arizona during his career. Teammate Kevin Lankinen (2-2-0, 2.60 GAA) could make his first home appearance as a Predator after the first five — including four starts — came on the road.

Nashville’s Juuso Parssinen looks to continue the strong start to his NHL career after recording three goals and two assists in four contests since making his debut Nov. 12.

“He looks like an NHL player,” Forsberg said of Parssinen’s early success. “It looks like he’s been doing this for 10 years.”

–Field Level Media

The New York Islanders will be out to split their four-game road trip Monday night when they play the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Islanders have lost two in a row on their trip after dropping a 5-2 decision to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

One positive the Islanders can take from the loss at Dallas is that Mathew Barzal scored his first two goals of the season. He had produced 19 assists without a goal in the previous 18 games.

“I’m excited to score whether it’s my first or my 15th,” Barzal said. “I wasn’t worried about it.”

His goals gave the Islanders 1-0 and 2-1 leads.

“We all knew it was coming,” said Anders Lee, who had an assist on Barzal’s second goal. “So now we can stop worrying about that and start seeing him do it more often. I don’t think that was as big a deal as it got made up.”

Allowing five goals, on the other hand, wasn’t an ideal outcome.

“Defensively, in our zone, we had a couple of breakdowns,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “When we broke down, they took advantage of us, and it’s just something that we have to correct.”

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” center Kyle Palmieri said. “It just wasn’t enough to win, and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”

The Islanders opened their trip with a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Monday before losing 5-4 to the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Saturday and will finish a three-game homestand Monday before going on a four-game road trip.

Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray made 32 saves against the Sabres to record his first home win of the season. After not playing since Oct. 12 because of a groin injury, Murray has started three consecutive games. The surging New Jersey Devils won 3-2 in overtime Thursday in Murray’s home debut.

“This has been a long time coming for me, getting into a home game and I’m having a lot of fun,” Murray said. “I’m trying to keep getting better as I go.”

“Defensively we were exceptional (Saturday),” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Between how we defended and how Matt played, we were a tough team to beat tonight. Between the penalties (Toronto took six minors), their best people touching the puck a lot and getting lots of shots, that’s where Murray was just outstanding. We talked about waiting for opportunities that would come.”

William Nylander scored twice for Toronto Saturday and has 10 goals for the season. John Tavares also scored his 10th goal of the season and added two assists. Mitchell Marner had two assists to extend his points streak to 12 games, one short of his career best. He has three goals and 14 assists during that span.

“I just feel like I’m doing me, as usual, trying to buzz out there,” Marner said. “Hold on to the puck and make the plays that I can, get pucks towards the net. Just try to get myself in areas I can make plays from and if not, just get them towards the net for rebounds or second opportunities. I’m lucky enough to have great people who can put the pucks in.”

Toronto is 6-1-3 in the past 10 games.

“Even though we haven’t played perfect games, we’ve lost one game in regulation since coming back from that California trip,” Keefe said. “So, a lot of good things happening.”

–Field Level Media

Most of the time, regardless of the result, the Carolina Hurricanes put a positive spin on how they’ve played.

That was far from the case their last time out, after a rare lackluster outing in a 2-1 overtime loss at Minnesota.

The Hurricanes will try to put the memory of that game behind them when they take the ice Monday night against the host Winnipeg Jets.

“The fact that we got a point out of that game is a miracle in my opinion,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were god-awful. When you have two or three guys playing and the rest were just going through the motions, that’s what you get.”

Brind’Amour might have a decision to make regarding goaltending. Pyotr Kochetkov has been strong since arriving from AHL affiliate Chicago because of an injury to top netminder Frederik Andersen.

Generally, the Hurricanes have rotated Antti Raanta and Kochetkov, so Monday would be Raanta’s turn.

Of more concern for Brind’Amour will be his skaters. The coach is not likely to stand idly by if the Hurricanes produce another subpar outing.

“That’s what you get in this league if you don’t have 20 guys (going strong),” Brind’Amour said after Carolina mustered 21 shots on goal and went 0-for-2 on the power play. “I hate wasting a game. That’s what we did. Turn the page.”

The Hurricanes will aim to revive their aggressiveness.

“Sitting back wasn’t the greatest game plan,” captain Jordan Staal said.

Despite the poor outing, the Hurricanes have created a reputation as a relentless team that puts opponents on notice. The Jets will be ready for that as they wrap up a three-game homestand.

“We’re looking forward to that challenge,” Jets center Adam Lowry said. “We know they have a lot of speed, they defend really well. They kind of roll all four lines and they come at you. It’s going to be a great test for us.”

The Jets have won eight of their last 11 and lost for just the second time this month on Saturday night. Yet compared to the Hurricanes, there was a different perspective from the Jets after the 3-0 setback to Pittsburgh.

“You have nights it just doesn’t go in,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “That’s hockey. If we weren’t getting those chances, we’d be upset. We had enough chances to score.”

The Jets had a five-game home-ice winning streak snapped. Saturday also marked the first time they had been blanked this season.

Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers will have surgery for a sports hernia in the coming days, a development announced during the weekend. It allows the Jets to add a short-term replacement to their roster rather than wondering when Ehlers, who hasn’t played since the second game of the season, might return.

“It was slower progress (than we anticipated), but we didn’t push it and we gave it a little extra time, hoping to try and avoid this (surgery),” Bowness said. “So it came to this.”

Ehlers scored 20 or more goals for Winnipeg in each of the past six seasons. He had 28 goals and 27 assists in 62 games last year.

–Field Level Media