Player of the Night: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins captain loves to play against the New York Islanders. I mean, really loves playing against them. After a four-point night during a 4-0 win Friday night, Crosby now has 107 points in 60 career games against the franchise. That’s the most points by any player against a single team since the 2005-06 season.
Highlight of the Night:
Reilly Smith got the Vegas Golden Knights back on the winning track with this breakaway winner during a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks:
MISC:
• Big night for two Penguins rookies as Daniel Sprong scored twice and goaltender Tristan Jarry recorded his second shutout with a 31-save evening.
• The Islanders have lost five in a row and have been outscored 25-8 over that stretch. To make matters worse, Josh Bailey left the game early on with a lower-body injury and did not return.
• Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and an assist to help lead the Detroit Red Wings over the Florida Panthers 4-2. Athanasiou now has five points in his last four games. Henrik Zetterberg collected his 600th NHL assist while helping Detroit to its fourth straight win.
• Dustin Byfuglien ended his 33-game goalless drought and Blake Wheeler and Jacob Trouba each had two points as the Winnipeg Jets edged the Buffalo Sabres 4-3. Winnipeg is now 14-1-1 in their last 16 games at Bell MTS Place.
• Matt Duchene only need seven seconds of overtime to help give the Ottawa Senators a 6-5 win over the San Jose Sharks. Mike Hoffman had a goal and four points, Mark Stone chipped in three points and Duchene finished with a three-point night in the win. The Senators fought back from deficits of 1-0, 4-1 and 5-2.
• Congrats to Canada on another gold medal at the World Junior Championship.
Factoid of the Night:
Joe Thornton of the @SanJoseSharks is skating in his 1,485th career regular-season game and passed Rod Brind'Amour (1,484) for sole possession of 22nd place on the NHL’s all-time list. #NHLStats #SJSvsOTT pic.twitter.com/yOdM0vIzuN
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 6, 2018
SCORES: Penguins, 4 New York Islanders 0 Red Wings 4, Panthers 2 Senators 6, Sharks 5 (OT) Jets 4, Sabres 3 Golden Knights 5, Blackhawks 4
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Sean Leahy is a writer forPro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.