NHL roundup: Pens edge Caps, avoid season sweep

[February 26, 2015]  WASHINGTON -- Center Evgeni Malkin has three assists and center Sidney Crosby added his 20th goal of the season to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night at the Verizon Center.

The Penguins avoided a series sweep with the victory and moved three points ahead of the Capitals in the Metropolitan Division standings. They are one point behind the second-place New York Rangers, who have two games in hand on the Penguins and three on the Capitals.

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fluery stopped 21 of 24 shots to improve to 28-13-6. Capitals netminder Braden Holtby allowed four goals on 26 shots to fall to 29-14-9.

Right winger Patric Hornqvist, center Brandon Sutter and left winger Chris Kunitz joined Crosby with goals for the Penguins, who have won three straight games since losing to the Capitals 3-1 in Pittsburgh on Feb. 17.

Defenseman John Carlson, right winger Troy Brouwer and left winger Alex Ovechkin scored goals for the Capitals, who have lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since Jan. 16-17.

Flames 3, Devils 1

NEWARK, N.J. -- Left winger Curtis Glencross and center Sean Monahan each scored a goal in a span of 48 seconds over two periods and goaltender Karri Ramo made 26 saves in goal, leading Calgary to victory over New Jersey at the Prudential Center.

The victory enabled the Flames to move past idle Minnesota into eighth place in the Western Conference standings and improve to 1-1 on their current season-long seven-game road trip.

Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie scored an empty-net goal and left winger Mike Cammalleri scored for New Jersey. Goaltender Corey Schneider made 23 saves in vain for the Devils.

Ducks 3, Senators 0

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Goalie Andrew Hammond led Ottawa to a win over Anaheim at Honda Center, moving to 3-0-0 on the season and marking the first time his team won three straight games since October.

Hammond earned his first career shutout, making 25 saves while his Ducks goalie John Gibson stopped 31 of 33 shots.

Left winger Erik Condra scored for Ottawa, as did centers Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris.

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