Penguins On Top Of The East – NHL News And Scores For March 20th

UNDATED (AP) — A 10-game winning streak has vaulted the Pittsburgh Penguins to the top of the NHL's Eastern Conference standings.

Matt Niskanen (NIHS'-kah-nehn) snapped a 1-1 tie with 8:02 remaining before the Pens held on to beat Washington 2-1. Paul Martin also scored and Sidney Crosby had two assists to help the Penguins move three points ahead of second-place Montreal.

The Canadiens erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period against Buffalo, only to lose 3-2 on Steve Ott's power-play goal at 2:16 of overtime. Ott finished with two goals and Jhonas (JOH'-nuhs) Enroth turned back 32 shots as the Sabres halted Montreal's five-game winning streak.

Boston is five points behind the Pens and two points in back of the Northeast Division-leading Canadiens after Winnipeg beat the Bruins 3-1. The Jets did their scoring in the third period as Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane scored 57 seconds apart before Wheeler added an empty-netter for the Southeast Division leaders.

In other NHL action, Daniel Sedin (seh-DEEN') had a goal and an assist while Vancouver was scoring three times in the second period of a 3-2 win over St. Louis. Cory Schneider made 32 saves and was perfect until the final period.

Phoenix scored for the first time in four games but absorbed a 3-2 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles. Dustin Penner opened the scoring for the Kings before Mike Richards set up goals by Drew Doughty (DOW'-tee) and Jarrett Stoll to help Los Angeles complete a sweep of the home-and-home series.

Michael Del Zotto scored a short-handed goal and set up Rick Nash's game winner to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over New Jersey. Carl Hagelin also scored and Henrik Lundqvist had 29 saves as the Rangers won their second game in two nights since a three-game losing streak.

Ottawa scored four times in the third period to beat the New York Islanders 5-3. Sergei Gonchar scored the game-winner with just one minute remaining after Jakob Silfverberg (SIHL'-vur-burg) and Zack Smith tallied 68 seconds apart to tie the game early in the third period.

Columbus has extended its club-record point streak to 11 games by building a 4-1 lead in a 4-3 triumph against Nashville. Mark Letestu (leh-TES'-too) had a goal and an assist, Jack Johnson set up two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots to improve to 6-0-2 in his last eight games.

Florida's six-game losing streak is over after Tomas Fleischmann, Marcel Goc (gahch) and Shawn Matthias scored 6:12 apart in the third period of the Panthers' 4-1 triumph at Carolina. Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots and Filip Kuba (KOO'-bah) had two assists as the Panthers dealt the Canes their fourth straight loss.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin skated with his teammates on Tuesday morning and is hopeful he can return to the lineup later this week.

The reigning NHL MVP has missed Pittsburgh's last five games with an undisclosed upper body injury.