CROSBY 4 POINTS LEAD STREAKING PENGUINS PAST BLUES 6-1

TIME: 8:00 PM, December 29, 2018

WHERE: Saint Louis, MO 63199

ATTENDANCE: 17,475, 91%

CAPACITY: 19,150

Referees:  Chris Rooney, Wes McCauley

Linesmen:  Darren Gibbs, Matt MacPherson

Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to lead the surging Pittsburgh Penguins past the St. Louis Blues 6-1 on Saturday night.

Juuso Riikola, Zach Aston-Reese, Kris Letang, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins, who converted on all four power plays. Pittsburgh has won a season-best five consecutive games.

Matt Murray stopped 30 shots to improve to 9-5-1. He has won five straight starts since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 15.

Jake Allen allowed four goals on 17 shots before getting pulled for Jordan Binnington almost halfway through the game. Allen fell to 13-11-4 and has been replaced in five of his 29 starts.

Alexander Steen was penalized for high-sticking Bryan Rust nine seconds into the game. Crosby capitalized when he one-timed a pass from Patrik Hornqvist past Allen for his team-leading 17th goal 39 seconds into the ensuing power play.

Crosby has nine points (one goal, eight assists) over his last three games.

Riikola fired a shot from the point past Allen with the Penguins on another power play 5:13 into the second period for his first NHL goal.

Aston-Reese netted his fifth of the season 2:04 later, and Kris Letang followed with his ninth to end Allen’s night.

David Perron scored his 13th with 5:24 remaining in the second to break up the shutout bid.

St. Louis entered on a two-game winning streak but has not won three in a row since taking six straight in March last season.

Guentzel and Malkin scored against Binnington 33 seconds apart in the third period.

GAME NOTES

St. Louis played its 4,000th game in franchise history, making it the 10th NHL team to reach that milestone. . Blues D Alex Pietrangelo returned to the lineup after missing 11 games with a broken wrist. . Pittsburgh has not given up a power-play goal in 14 opportunities during its winning streak.

UP NEXT

PENGUINS: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Monday.

ST. LOUIS: Host the New York Rangers on Monday.

MY 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1^ST: Sidney Crosby, C – PIT,, 1 Goals, 2 Assists

2^ND: Kris Letang, D – PIT, 0 Goals, 3 Assists

3^RD: Phil Kessel, RW – PIT, 0 Goals, 3 Assists

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD 0:48 Penguins Sidney Crosby (17) (Power Play) Assists: Patric Hornqvist, Phil Kessel 1 0

2ND PERIOD 5:13 Penguins Juuso Riikola (1) (Power Play) Assists: Tanner Pearson, Derick Brassard 2 0 7:17 Penguins Zach Aston-Reese (5) Assists: Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby 3 0 9:25 penguins Patric Hornqvist (14) (Power Play) Assists: Kris Letang, Phil Kessel 4 0 14:36 Blues David Perron (13) Assists: Ryan O'Reilly, Alexander Steen 4 1

3RD PERIOD 3:05 Penguins Jake Guentzel (16) Assists: Brian Dumoulin, Sidney Crosby 5 1 3:38 Penguins Evgeni Malkin (12) (Power Play) Assists: Phil Kessel, Kris Letang 6 1

PITTSBURGH FORWARDS Z. Aston-Reese C D. Brassard C S. Crosby C M. Cullen C J. Guentzel C P. Hornqvist RW P. Kesse l RW E. Malkin C T. Pearson LW B. Rust RW R. Sheahan C D. Simon C DEFENSEMEN B. Dumoulin D J. Johnson D K. Letang D O. MaattaD M. Pettersson D J. Riikola D

TIME ON ICE FACEOFFS G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 1 0 2 2 2 1 1 5 5 1 0 23 15:02 0:00 1:17 13:45 0 0 0.0 0 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 24 16:25 0:36 0:24 15:25 4 4 50.0 1 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 25 18:13 2:32 1:06 14:35 16 10 61.5 0 0 -1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 14 11:50 0:00 1:37 10:13 7 5 58.3 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 24 16:28 0:22 1:11 14:55 0 0 0.0 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 23 16:43 2:46 0:00 13:57 0 0 0.0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 17:36 2:46 0:00 14:50 0 0 0.0 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 2 0 1 2 24 19:17 2:32 0:00 16:45 3 8 27.3 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 19 14:55 0:36 0:00 14:19 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 8 5:33 0:00 0:36 4:57 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 12:00 0:00 1:49 10:11 1 1 50.0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 14:35 0:00 0:00 14:35 0 2 0.0 G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 30 21:04 0:00 2:22 18:42 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 0 1 27 20:25 0:00 1:38 18:47 0 0 0.0 0 3 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 28 23:20 2:46 2:17 18:17 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 26 18:33 0:00 1:43 16:50 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 1 0 26 18:13 0:22 0:00 17:51 0 0 0.0 1 0 0 1 0 6 0 0 1 0 0 23 15:48 0:22 0:00 15:26 0 0 0.0

GOALIES M. Murray G

SA GA SV SV% ESSV PPSV SHSV SOSA SOS TOI PIM 31 1 30 .968 25 0 5 0 0 60:00 0

* - A player receives a "plus" if he is on the ice when his Club scores an even-strength or shorthand goal. He receives a "minus" if he is on the ice for an even-strength or shorthand goal scored by the opposing Club. The difference in these numbers is considered the player's plus-minus statistic.

ST. LOUIS FORWARDS I. Barbashev LW T. Bozak C P. Maroon LW J. Nolan C R. O'Reilly C D. Perron LW B. Schenn C J. Schwartz LW A. Steen LW O. Sundqvist C V. Tarasenko RW R. Thomas C DEFENSEMEN R. Bortuzzo D J. Bouwmeester D V. Dunn D J. Edmundson D C. Parayko D A. Pietrangelo D

TIME ON ICE FACEOFFS G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 17 11:07 0:00 1:32 9:35 1 3 25.0 0 0 -1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 21 14:02 1:55 1:05 11:02 3 4 42.9 0 0 -1 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 18 12:41 1:36 0:00 11:05 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 12 9:16 0:00 0:00 9:16 0 0 0.0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 24 20:34 2:05 1:05 17:24 15 12 55.6 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 5 1 2 24 19:15 1:36 0:00 17:39 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 23 17:46 2:24 0:31 14:51 7 11 38.9 0 0 -1 4 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 24 18:41 2:24 0:31 15:46 0 0 0.0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 4 2 0 0 24 18:13 1:36 0:00 16:37 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 17 10:54 0:00 1:32 9:22 1 1 50.0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 22 17:38 2:24 0:00 15:14 1 0 100.0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 17 11:01 0:00 0:00 11:01 2 0 100.0 G A +/- S SM BS PN PIM HT TK GV SHFT TOI PPTOI SHTOI ESTOI FW FL % 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 23 18:05 0:00 1:42 16:23 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 28 21:12 0:00 1:52 19:20 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 17:47 1:45 0:00 16:02 0 0 0.0 0 0 -1 1 2 0 2 7 3 0 0 25 18:17 0:00 1:26 16:51 0 0 0.0 0 0 -1 3 1 3 0 0 2 0 0 29 20:27 2:05 0:00 18:22 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 19:56 0:10 1:16 18:30 0 0 0.0

GOALIES J. Binnington G J. Allen G

SA GA SV SV% ESSV PPSV SHSV SOSA SOS TOI PIM 13 2 11 .846 10 0 1 0 0 30:35 0 17 4 13 .765 10 2 1 0 0 29:25 0

* - A player receives a "plus" if he is on the ice when his Club scores an even-strength or shorthand goal. He receives a "minus" if he is on the ice for an even-strength or shorthand goal scored by the opposing Club. The difference in these numbers is considered the player's plus-minus statistic.