Crosby’s Penguins top Ovechkin’s Caps

Patric Hornqvist scored the day after undergoing a dental procedure to help the Pittsburgh Penguins edge host Washington Capitals on Sunday in the 50th regular-season game between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

Crosby assisted on Dominik Simon’s goal to give him 12 points in seven games since returning from injury. Ovechkin was held off the score sheet and remained at 37 goals this season and 695 for his career.

“This is the kind of games we’re going to see from here on in with the intensity and emotion and playoff kind of mentality,” Crosby said. “There’s enough guys around that have played in these games for a long time, and for new guys it seems like they get a feel right away for the intensity and emotion of the game.”

The Penguins are 2-0 out of their bye week and have won five of seven since Crosby came back. They’ve won 31 of the 50 Crosby versus Ovechkin games dating to their NHL debuts during the 200506 season.

By winning in regulation, the Penguins crept within four points of the Metropolitan Divisionleading Capitals with an extra game left to play. Pittsburgh made life difficult on rookie Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who allowed goals to Sam Lafferty, Hornqvist, Simon and Brandon Tanev on 33 shots.

Lars Eller was the best player on the ice and scored twice for Washington, and Evgeny Kuznetsov added a third-period goal. Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray made 29 saves.

Hurricanes 4, Canucks 3 (SO): Justin Williams scored the wining goal in a shootout to lift host Carolina and end Vancouver’s five-game winning streak. Williams wristed a shot inside the post to the right of Thatcher Demko, giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 edge in the shootout. Carolina goalie James Reimer then used his left pad to stop Bo Horvat to clinch the win. It was Williams’ second shootout winner in four games since returning to the Hurricanes following an extended offseason. Carolina, 3-1 since Williams’ return, got goals in regulation from Nino Niederreiter, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov as Reimer made 32 saves. Elias Pettersson scored twice, Tyler Myers added a goal and Oscar Fantenberg and J.T. Miller each had two assists for Vancouver.

Blue Jackets 4, Canadiens 3: Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and added an assist to lead Columbus over host Montreal, who was coming off a 4-0 win over Florida on Saturday. Vladislav Gavrikov and Gustav Nyquist scored as Columbus swept the season series. The

Blue Jackets have picked up at least a point in eight straight games. Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves and improved to 10-2-0 since replacing starter Joonas Korpisalo.