Islanders 5, Penguins 3 (at Consol Energy Center)The Islanders held Crosby off the scoresheet and snapped Pittsburgh's 10-game home winning streak in the process. Crosby won 15 of 21 faceoffs, but he was on the ice for two of the Islanders five goals. He played a season-high 21:09.March 29: Islanders 5, Penguins 3 (at Nassau Coliseum)The same team did it to him again, except this time the Islanders also made Crosby bleed. Dylan Reese tried to clear the puck out of the defensive zone early in the second period, but the puck instead struck Crosby just under the face shield and he went sprawling to the ice, clutching his face. Crosby left the ice holding a towel to his face, but he returned about eight minutes later and finished the game. Crosby was a minus-two and won only six of 14 faceoffs in 17:28 of ice time.March 30: Penguins 5, Sabres 3 (at First Niagara Center)Crosby played arguably his best game since returning to the lineup. He scored a goal and had three assists to help the Penguins snap their own two-game losing streak and bring an end to the Sabres' five-game winning streak. The only Pittsburgh goal Crosby wasn't involved in Friday night was the empty-netter scored by Jordan Staal. He was otherwise brilliant in 17:40 of ice time. Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl
Ottawa 3 0 0 0-4Philadelphia 0 3 0 0-3First Period-1, Ottawa, Spezza 32 (Alfredsson, Carkner), 6:04. 2, Ottawa, Alfredsson 27 (Karlsson), 11:39. 3, Ottawa, Neil 13 (Klinkhammer),Australia Nike Huarache Free Run, 14:27.Second Period-4, Philadelphia, Simmonds 26 (Schenn, Briere),Nike Free 3.0 V6 Mens Black Grey, 2:59. 5,Nike Free 5.0 Mens Violet Force Bright Citrus, Philadelphia, Couturier 13 (Talbot, Grossmann),Nike Free Run 2 Mens, 14:38. 6, Philadelphia, Coburn 4 (Briere, Wellwood), 17:17.Third Period-None.Overtime-None.Shootout-Ottawa 2 (Michalek G, Spezza G), Philadelphia 1 (Read G, Giroux NG, Briere NG).Shots on Goal-Ottawa 12-10-5-2-29. Philadelphia 15-14-4-6-39.Goalies-Ottawa, Anderson. Philadelphia, Bobrovsky. A-19,822 (19,537). T-2:45.
TORONTO - The shot of life the Toronto Maple Leafs so badly needed came from the American Hockey League.Ben Scrivens had nothing to do with a franchise-worst home losing streak that doomed the team's season, but he had a big hand in ending it by making 29 saves in a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday."This team was maybe a little bit fragile," said Scrivens after being named the game's first star. "I just wanted to try and come in and try to make as many saves as I could and really just give these guys a chance. All the credit goes to these guys, they've had a lot of pressure on them both internally and externally."It was the first time since Feb. 6 �� a span of 11 games �� the team celebrated a victory at Air Canada Centre. The ensuing 55 days saw the Leafs plummet from playoff contention, replace coach Ron Wilson with Randy Carlyle and give general manager Brian Burke plenty of reasons to look at making big changes in the off-season.Scrivens represents an interesting option moving forward.The 25-year-old spent time with the Leafs in November and has become one of the top AHL goalie