SUNRISE, Fla. — Sidney Crosby scored his 10th goal in the second period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Florida Panthers for a 3-2 win Saturday night.
Kris Letang had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who improved to 9-3-0 in their past 12 games. Teddy Blueger also scored, and Tristan Jarry stopped 33 shots.
Florida dropped to 1-3-1 since returning from the All-Star break. Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, and Brett Connolly also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves.
Pittsburgh had a 2-1 lead before Crosby’s power-play goal 3:50 into the second. Crosby deflected a shot from Jared McCann past Bobrovsky.
The Penguins had been 0 for 11 on the power play the past two games.
The Panthers closed to 3-2 when Vincent Trocheck passed across to Connolly in the left circle and his wrist shot beat Jarry at 4:59 of the second.
The Penguins went ahead to stay when Letang exited the penalty box, grabbed a loose puck and converted a backhand on a breakaway 6:30 into the game.
Blueger made it 2-0 at 10:44. He poked in a rebound for his eighth of the season.
Hoffman trimmed the lead to 2-1 when he fired a shot from the right circle that got past Jarry with 2:38 left in the first.
NOTES
Penguins D John Marino did not play due to an injury suffered in Thursday’s loss at Tampa Bay. … Panthers C Aleksander Barkov returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury. … D MacKenzie Weegar, who missed 16 of the last 17 games, returned after missing Thursday’s game against Vegas with an illness.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday
Panthers: Visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday
Paul Gereffi, The Associated Press
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