Sore nose and all, Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to help the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins snap a mini-slump with a 4-3 victory over Buffalo on Friday night that slowed the Sabres' late-season surge.
It was Crosby's third four-point game in a season in which concussion troubles have limited him to 18 games. And it came after he was held without a point in his last two outings and a day after his nose was bloodied by a puck in a 5-3 loss at the New York Islanders.
Crosby became the NHL's seventh-youngest player to score his 600th career point.
At 24 years, 236 days, Crosby is the youngest player to hit the mark since Pierre Turgeon did it with the New York Islanders in 1994.
With 220 goals and 380 assists in 430 games, Crosby also reached 600 points in the seventh-fewest games.
Steve Sullivan had a goal and two assists, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and assist, and Pascal Dupuis set up two to extend his points streak to an NHL season-best 13 games. Pittsburgh (48-24-6) rebounded from two straight losses to the Islanders and moved four points ahead of the fifth-place Flyers in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Sabres' loss also allowed the idle Boston Bruins to clinch a playoff berth. Thomas Vanek, Tyler Ennis, and Jordan Leopold scored for the Sabres, who dropped to 14-3-4 in their last 21, and lost for the first time in regulation in 10 games (7-1-2).
The Sabres (38-30-10) had a five-game winning streak snapped, and dropped into ninth place, behind the Washington Capitals. Both teams have four games left and 86 points, but the Capitals hold the tiebreaker edge.
Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards scored early, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto had two goals in the third period as the host New York Rangers won their fourth in a row and moved closer to securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Henrik Lundqvist was steady throughout in winning for the third straight game and for the sixth time in seven. He won at Minnesota and at Winnipeg to get to 250 NHL victories, and helped the Rangers widen their lead. His best stop of the night came two minutes into the third period when he denied David Desharnais on a breakaway to keep the score at 2-0.
Rene Bourque spoiled Lundqvist's chances of a shutout when he scored with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left to make it 4-1.
The Rangers moved one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues in the race for the President's Trophy.
Gabriel Bourque and Francis Bouillon scored in the second period and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to help the visiting Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1, for coach Barry Trotz's 500th victory with the franchise.
Nashville moved a point ahead of Detroit with four games left in the regular season to be the fourth-seeded team with home-ice advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
The Red Wings were held scoreless on three power plays in the second period in part because Rinne made a sprawling glove save to prevent Henrik Zetterberg from scoring off a rebound.
Defenseman Nikita Nikitin scored twice and had an assist, R.J. Umberger also had two goals, and Allen York made 30 saves in the host Columbus Blue Jackets' 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.
- Associated Press
