Penguins edge Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes 4-2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brian Boyle, Danton Heinen and Zach Aston-Reese scored to take some of the pressure off Sidney Crosby, Tristan Jarry stopped 41 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins edged the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Sunday.

Crosby scored an empty-netter to reach the 20-goal plateau for the 14th time as the Penguins beat the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes for the first time in three tries, thanks in part to the secondary scoring that’s been lacking in recent weeks.

Pittsburgh general manager Ron Hextall urged his role players to get to the front of the net in an effort to shake out of the doldrums. Boyle and Heinen responded by scoring from a combined 6 feet from the net while Aston-Reese’s tap-in empty-netter with 12 seconds left sealed it.

Brett Pesce scored his fifth of the season and Sebastian Aho added his 27th, but Carolina lost in regulation for just the second time in its last 12 games (9-2-1). Antti Raanta finished with 19 saves, but had no real chance at stopping either of the two he let in.

SABRES 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2

HAMILTON, Ontario (AP) — Vinnie Hinostroza had two goals and an assist, Peyton Krebs also scored twice and Buffalo defeated Toronto in the Heritage Classic outdoor game.

Tage Thompson added an empty-net goal and Craig Anderson made 36 saves in the Sabres' victory at a windy Tim Horton Field, home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It was the first NHL regular-season game in Hamilton since March 1994.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 45th goal, Ondrej Kase also scored and Petr Mrazek made 31 saves.

Hinostroza snapped a 2-2 tie at 5:16 of the third period when he fired a shot from a sharp angle in the corner for his 10th of the season.

Crews had to clear snow off the ice a couple of times before warmups, but flurries subsided when the game began in front of a sellout crowd of 26,119. Temperatures felt like 19 degrees during the game.

The Leafs sported dark blue jerseys that pay homage to the Toronto Arenas — one of the franchise’s previous iterations that played from 1917 to 1919 — while the Sabres wore cream-colored threads.

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