Penguins win 6th straight, edge Rangers 6-5
- - Penguins win 6th straight, edge Rangers 6-5
The January 31, 2026 at 8:53 PM
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Pittsburgh Penguins' Anthony Mantha, right, celebrates in the second period with Rickard Rakell, left, after his second goal of an NHL hockey game against the New York Rangers in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) ()
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari scored two goals apiece, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins held off the New York Rangers 6-5 on Saturday for their sixth straight victory.
Mantha and Acciari beat Jonathan Quick twice in a span of just over three minutes early in the first period to give the Penguins an early cushion. Mantha made it 3-0 with an easy tap-in in the second period. Acciari and Rickard Rakell scored 20 seconds apart early in the third to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to 5-1 on a night the franchise celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2016 club that won the Stanley Cup.
Erik Karlsson became the 12th defenseman in NHL history to reach 700 career assists when he picked up the secondary helper on Rakell’s 10th goal of the season 1:20 into the final period. The other 11 defensemen to reach the 700-assist plateau are in the Hall of Fame.
Stuart Skinner improved to 8-1 in his last nine starts but nearly let a four-goal third period get away.
Alex Lafreniere scored twice for the Rangers. Vincent Trocheck, Vladislav Gavrikov and Will Cuylle all scored during a late rally, but it wasn’t enough for the Rangers to fall to 2-10 since goaltender Igor Shesterkin was lost indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
AVALANCHE 5, RED WINGS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice to become the league’s first 40-goal scorer this season and the Colorado Avalanche continued their dominance of Detroit with a victory.
MacKinnon also had an assist, giving him 699 for his career. He failed to score in the previous five games, his longest drought of the season. MacKinnon increased his season point total to 91, trailing only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.
Mackenzie Blackwood secured his third shutout this season by making 28 saves. Colorado is 14-0-1 in its last 15 meetings with Detroit.
Brent Burns, Ross Colton and Parker Kelly also scored for the Avalanche, while Artturi Lehkonen added two assists.
KINGS 3, FLYERS 2, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Adrian Kempe scored twice in regulation and assisted on a goal by Quinton Byfield in overtime to help the Los Angeles Kings beat the Philadelphia Flyers.
Kempe scored twice in a span of 3:38 in the first period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead. After a Philadelphia rally, Kempe fed Byfield for his 10th goal of the season, a snap shot from the right circle that beat Flyers goalie Dan Vladar over his right shoulder.
Andrei Kuzmenko, who the Kings acquired from the Flyers at last season’s trade deadline, appeared to score a goal that would have extended the Los Angeles lead to 3-0 in the first period, but the Flyers challenged that the play was offside, and after review the goal came off the board.
Philadelphia rallied behind goals from Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny to force overtime.
Konecny has scored in three straight games for Philadelphia, and has registered at least one point in seven of his last eight.
JETS 2, PANTHERS 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored the go-ahead goal with 4:14 remaining, lifting Winnipeg to a win over sliding and short-handed Florida.
Winnipeg was 1-18-2 in games where it trailed entering the third period going into the game, and was down 1-0 with 20 minutes left against the Panthers. But the Jets scored twice in a span of just over seven minutes to take command.
Cole Perfetti scored with 11:26 left to tie the game, then Scheifele got his 27th of the season for what became the game-winner.
Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots for the Jets, including one with 37.1 seconds left on a shot by Matthew Tkachuk. Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett got shots to the net after that as well for the Panthers, but neither got by Comrie and the Jets prevailed for just the third time in their last nine games.
Eetu Luostarinen got the goal for Florida, which has dropped three straight and ended the game eight points back of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers — who have been without Aleksander Barkov all season — played Saturday without Brad Marchand, who is day to day, along with Anton Lundell and Seth Jones, among others.
FLAMES 3, SHARKS 2
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Joel Farabee’s short-handed goal at 6:53 of the third period broke a tie and sent Calgary to a victory over San Jose.
Morgan Frost and Matvei Gridin each scored his 12th goal of the season for the Flames (22-26-6), who overcame a pair of one-goal deficits and snapped a five-game losing streak.
Will Smith and Adam Gaudette scored for the Sharks (27-22-4), who have lost two in a row and four of seven.
Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 39 shots for the Sharks, while Dustin Wolf made 23 saves for the Flames.
Wolf’s best stop came against Macklin Celebrini with 21 seconds remaining when he stuck out a pad to deny the star forward after he was set up all by himself in front of the net.
CAPITALS 4, HURRICANES, 3, OT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justin Sourdif scored off a rebound at 1:42 of overtime and Washington overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Carolina.
Down 3-0 early in second period, the Capitals tied it on defenseman Jakob Chychrun’s goal with 6:42 left in regulation — his 19th of the season.
Hendrix Lapierre and Dylan Strome scored in the second period to start the rally and help give Clay Stevenson his first NHL victory. Stevenson won in his second career start and first of the season, stopping 19 shots.
Washington has won two in a row. It beat beat Detroit 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night to end a six-game trip.
Mark Jankowski, Sebastian Aho and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Carolina, and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves. The Hurricanes had won two in a row and five of six.
BLUE JACKETS 5, BLUES 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kent Johnson had a goal and assist and Columbus beat St. Louis for its season-best fifth straight victory.
The Blue Jackets have won nine of 10, outscoring opponents 38-27 since Jan. 11.
Damon Severson, Isac Lundestrom, Denton Mateychuk and Mason Marchment also scored for Columbus. Jet Greaves made 28 saves.
Tyler Tucker, Jonatan Berggren and Jimmy Snuggerud scored for St. Louis.
Jordan Binnington stopped 18 shots. He has lost has lost six consecutive starts and 10 of the last 11.
Severson broke a 3-3 tie on a power play with 3:59 left in the second period with his fourth goal of the season.
PREDATORS 4, ISLANDERS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Roman Josi scored with 1:14 remaining in the game to lift Nashville past New York.
Filip Forsberg scored twice for Nashville, while Matthew Wood added a goal and an assist as the Predators snapped a three-game losing streak. Juuse Saros finished with 27 saves including a point-blank stop on Emil Heineman in the closing seconds.
On his winner, Josi skated into the Islanders zone, circled back and fired a shot over the glove of Ilya Sorokin that made him the first defenseman in franchise history with 200 career NHL goals.
Mathew Barzal finished with a goal and an assist for the Islanders. Matthew Schaefer and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored but the Islanders’ three-game winning streak came to an end. Sorokin made 38 saves.
CANADIENS 4, SABRES 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Cole Caufield scored twice to help give Montreal a win over Buffalo at KeyBank Center.
Caufield scored his 31st and 32nd goals of the season in the third period to help Montreal overcome a 2-1 deficit for their third straight win.
Juraj Slafkovsky and Oliver Kapanen also scored for the Canadiens and Jakub Dobes made 36 saves.
Owen Power and Noah Ostlund scored for the Sabres who had a five-game win streak snapped. Alex Lyon made 27 saves.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, CANUCKS 2, SO
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Auston Matthews and William Nylander scored in a shootout and Toronto beat Vancouver to end a six-game losing streak.
Matthews had a chance to win it in overtime when he was awarded a penalty shot after Conor Garland was called for hooking, but goaltender Nikita Tolopilo made the save.
Nicolas Roy and Max Domi scored for Toronto, and Joseph Woll made 28 saves.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Tom Willander scored for Vancouver. The Canucks have two wins in their last 17 games.
Domi tied it early in the third with a shot that hit Tolopilo’s shoulder then rolled over his back into the net.
Tolopilo stopped 39 shots.
SENATORS 4, DEVILS 1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Linus Ullmark made 26 saves in his first start for Ottawa since taking a leave of absence Dec. 28, Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists and the Senators beat New Jersey.
Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Cozens scored his 100th NHL goal for Ottawa. The Senators have won three in a row.
Timo Meier scored, and Jake Allen made 30 saves for New Jersey. The Devils have lost three of four.
The Devils were without Jack Hughes. He’s out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
STARS 3, MAMMOTH 2
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Thomas Harley and Wyatt Johnston each scored a power-play goal in the first period to lead Dallas over Utah.
Matt Duchene also scored in the first to help Dallas wrap up a three-game trip with its fourth straight victory. Jamie Benn had two assists and Casey DeSmith made 12 saves for the Stars.
Kailer Yamamoto scored twice for Utah. JJ Peterka assisted on both goals, increasing his career total to 101 assists. Karel Vejmelka made 28 stops for the Mammoth, who had won four home games in a row.
KRAKEN 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kaapo Kakko scored the go-ahead goal 3:18 into the third period and Seattle held on for its fourth straight victory, defeating Vegas.
Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann scored in the first period for the Kraken and Joey Daccord made 27 saves. Chandler Stephenson had two assists.
Ivan Barbashev and Mitch Marner tied it at 2 with goals in the second period for the Golden Knights, who have lost four in a row and six of seven. Jack Eichel had two assists and Akira Schmid stopped 20 shots.
With the game tied at 2, Kakko backhanded the rebound of Adam Larsson’s shot past Schmid to put Seattle back on top. The Kraken have won five of their last six.
WILD 7, OILERS 3
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist to set a franchise record for defensemen by extending his point streak to eight games in Minnesota's win over Edmonton.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and Brock Faber also had a goal and an assist apiece for Minnesota, which won its third straight game and now has points in five straight games. Kirill Kaprizov, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Pitlick rounded out the scoring for the Wild, while Jesper Wallstedt stopped 39 shots.
Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic scored for the Oilers, who had their three-game win streak halted.
Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry gave up five goals on 20 shots before getting the hook midway through the second period. He was replaced by Connor Ingram, who made seven saves in relief.
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Source: “AOL Sports”
