NEW YORK — Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists, Tristan Jarry stopped 31 shots for his second shutout of the season and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 4-0 Friday night.
Daniel Sprong had two goals and an assist, Evgeni Malkin also scored and Dominik Simon added two assists for the Penguins, who had dropped four of six and were coming off a 4-0 loss at home to Carolina the previous night. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions pulled within one point of the Hurricanes for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Jaroslav Halak finished with 31 saves as the Islanders lost their season-high fifth straight — all in regulation — while getting outscored 25-8 during the skid.
The Islanders lost right wing Josh Bailey to a lower-body injury early in the first period and he did not return. Bailey leads the team with 38 assists and is tied with captain John Tavares for tops with 50 points.
With the Penguins ahead 3-0, Jarry stopped a slap shot by Ryan Pulock two minutes into the third, and then another attempt by the forward from the inside edge of the right circle 90 seconds later. Jarry also denied a tip by Jordan Eberle a little more than 5 1/2 minutes in and a try in front by Brock Nelson 20 seconds later.
Sprong got his second goal with 6 1/2 minutes to go, beating Halak in the top left corner.
After a scoreless first period, the Penguins scored three times in the second while outshooting the Islanders 18-8.
Sprong got the Penguins on the scoreboard 41 seconds in as Crosby brought the puck up the left side and passed it through sliding Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy to Sprong, who tapped it past Halak for his first goal in his fourth game this season.
After Pulock was whistled for tripping Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh's top-ranked power play took advantage. Malkin got a pass from Crosby at the right faceoff dot and fired a one-timer past Halak to make it 2-0 with his 15th at 3:30.
Crosby made it 3-0 with 4:10 left in the middle period as he got the puck on a rebound off the end boards and put it in off Halak's left hip from behind the goal line for his 15th.
New York had a two-man advantage for 1:16 late in the second, but couldn't get anything past Jarry on a pair of scrambles in close.
Pittsburgh outshot New York 13-8 in the first period. The Penguins were outshot 7-1 over the first 9 1/2 minutes before picking up the intensity.
Halak made a nice shoulder save on Kessel with about 10 1/2 minutes to go and Crosby hit a crossbar a little more than 30 seconds later.
Jarry had a stellar sliding save on an attempt by Casey Cizikas on an Islanders 3-on-1 break with 1 1/2 minutes left to keep it scoreless.
Red Wings 4, Panthers 2
DETROIT — Anthony Mantha and Gustav Nyquist scored in the third period to lift the Detroit Red Wings to their fourth straight victory, 4-2 over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
The Red Wings blew a 2-0 lead and had been outplayed for most of the night, but Mantha gave Detroit the lead back on the power play, and Nyquist added a breakaway goal with 4:38 remaining.
Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar also scored for Detroit. Mike Matheson and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who had their game at Boston on Thursday night postponed because of severe weather. They were able to make it from there to Detroit to play Friday's game as scheduled.
Florida outshot the Red Wings 29-11 through two periods but still trailed 2-1. Barkov tied it on a 2-on-1 break, but the Panthers quickly gave Detroit two straight power plays, and the Red Wings converted on the second. Martin Frk's slap shot from the point beat goalie James Reimer to the glove side. Mantha, positioned in front, was credited with the goal on an apparent deflection.
Athanasiou, who scored Detroit's only two goals in an overtime win over Ottawa on Wednesday, gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead just 42 seconds into the game, skating in from the left and backhanding the puck past Reimer. Dylan Larkin made a nice play behind the net to help set up Detroit's next goal in the second period. He got the puck to Athanasiou, who made an easy pass to Tatar in front of the net.
Matheson scored a terrific goal with 1.5 seconds left in the second, collecting the puck near center ice with a nifty spin and then breezing past a defenseman before beating goalie Jimmy Howard.