Sidney Crosby scored a superb goal and lost a few teeth to help the Pittsburgh Penguins wrap up their playoff berth with a victory over the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday. Canadian star Crosby ensured the reigning Stanley Cup champions would reach the postseason for a record 11th consecutive season after opening the scoring in a 3-1 win. But the Pittsburgh captain was left feeling groggy at the end of the match after being high-sticked by Evander Kane in the final seconds, a shot that knocked out several of his teeth. It was left to teammates to enthuse over the Pittsburgh captain's virtuoso opening effort shortly before the end of the first period. With nothing seemingly on, Crosby gathered the puck behind his own blue line and weaved his way up the ice before finally gently steering a one-handed backhand shot into the net. It was Crosby's sixth goal in his past three games and an 11th point in the last six contests. "The play that everyone (messes) around doing in practice and he does it in games," Nick Bonino said. "The sea parted for him there, only 15 seconds left, he turned it on and that's a huge goal at the end of a period." Penguins coach Mike Sullivan added: "It was a goal-scorer's goal by an elite player." Bonino, who scored with 5:29 remaining to help give the Penguins a 3-1 win, was satisfied that the playoff berth was in the bag. Conor Sheary also scored for Pittsburgh. Sam Reinhart scored for Buffalo. Capitals 4, Flames 2: T.J. Oshie scored his 30th goal of the season as Washington used a second-period shooting barrage to wear down streaking Calgary, ending Brian Elliott's winning run at 11 straight. Alexander Ovechkin, Kevin Shattenkirk and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for the Capitals. Troy Brouwer and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames. Senators 3, Bruins 2: Craig Anderson made 34 saves and Kyle Turris scored his second goal of the game 4:04 into the third period, allowing Ottawa to end a four-game losing streak with an important victory over Boston. Tom Pyatt also scored for the Senators. David Krejci and Torey Krug scored for the Bruins, who got both goals on the power play. Devils 3, Rangers 2 (OT): Joe Blandisi scored with 54.6 seconds remaining in overtime to give New Jersey a victory over New York at Prudential Center. John Quenneville collected his first NHL goal and Taylor Hall also scored for the Devils. Cory Schneider made 38 saves. Oscar Lindberg and Rick Nash scored for the Rangers. Coyotes 5, Lightning 3: Tampa Bay lost its third straight as it struggles to stay in the wild-card mix, falling to Arizona. Radim Vrbata and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in the third period, while Connor Murphy, Christian Fischer and Christian Dvorak also scored for the Coyotes, who ended a three-game losing streak. Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Lightning. Hurricanes 4, Panthers 3: Jeff Skinner scored the go-ahead goal, his second of the game, with 3:55 left in the third period as Carolina defeated Florida at the BB&T Center. Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho also scored for the Hurricanes. The Panthers got goals from Aleksander Barkov, Reilly Smith and Keith Yandle. Red Wings 2, Canadiens 1 (OT) Anthony Mantha scored the game-winner with less than a minute to go in overtime to lift Detroit over Montreal at the Bell Centre. Justin Abdelkader scored in regulation for the Red Wings. Artturi Lehkonen replied for the Canadiens. Jimmy Howard stopped 35 shots for Detroit while Al Montoya made 34 saves for the Canadiens. Other results: Jets 3, Flyers 2; Wild 3, Sharks 2; Canucks 5, Blackhawks 4 (OT); Blues 4, Avalanche 2. — Agencies
