Crosby collects 800th assist, Penguins top Senators 7-3

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored and collected his 800th career assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a six-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night.

Crosby became the 32nd player in NHL history to reach the 800-assist plateau when he earned the secondary assist on Jason Zucker’s goal 36 seconds into the third period that put the Penguins up 5-1. The 32-year-old Crosby needed just 980 games to get to 800, the sixth-fastest ever.

Bryan Rust collected his third career hat trick for the Penguins, who tied a season high in goals.

Pittsburgh defenceman John Marino scored 48 seconds into his return after missing 11 games due to facial surgery, giving the Penguins the early lead. Conor Sheary capped off a three-goal first period outburst as Pittsburgh halted the franchise’s longest losing streak in more than eight years. Matt Murray finished with 23 saves to win for just the second time in his last seven starts.

Jayce Hawryluk, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown scored for the Senators but Ottawa couldn’t keep pace with the Penguins, who began a crucial stretch by emerging from a two-week funk that sapped them of the momentum they’d built while rocketing to the top of the Metropolitan Division.

Head coach Mike Sullivan preached patience following a nightmarish road swing through California in which the Penguins were outscored and outplayed for long stretches by three clubs who will be sitting home when the playoffs begin next month. Sullivan instructed his team to keep it simple, to put the puck on the net and good things would likely happen.

It didn’t take long. Marino, a smooth-skating rookie, flicked a puck from the point less than a minute in that slipped through a screen and past Craig Anderson to put the Penguins in front. Sheary, reacquired by the Penguins last week following a stint in Buffalo, scored his first goal for Pittsburgh since the 2018 playoffs when his innocuous centring pass from the corner slipped across the crease, smacked off the skate of Ottawa’s mike Reilly and into the net to make it 2-0 just 99 second in.

It was the kind of bounce the Penguins didn’t get often during a losing streak in which they were outscored 24-8. Hawryluk cut the Ottawa deficit to 2-1 when he tapped in a loose puck with 3:36 to go in the first but Rust responded with a power-play goal with 46 seconds to go in the period to help Pittsburgh regain control.

Not that the Penguins seemed intent on keeping it. They were lethargic and sloppy at times, including a four-minute power play sequence in the second period in which they didn’t even register a shot on Anderson. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. Crosby’s wrist shot from the left circle in the late stages seemed to wake his teammates up. It also gave the Penguins a 4-1 advantage they never really came close to squandering.

Crosby’s helper on Zucker’s sixth goal since joining the Penguins last month gave Crosby another slice of history and helped push Pittsburgh to within a point of second-place Philadelphia in the Metropolitan.

NOTES: Crosby is the second Penguin to reach 800 assists with the club, joining Hall of Famer and team owner Mario Lemieux. Wayne Gretzky needed just 527 games to get to 800 assists. … Penguins D Brian Dumoulin recorded an assist and played 19:52 in his return after missing 37 games with a lower-body injury. … Ottawa C Artem Anisimov left early in the first period and did not return after colliding with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin. … Anderson made 28 saves for the Senators, who have now lost nine straight in Pittsburgh.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday. New York has won both of the previous meetings between the clubs this season.

Pittsburgh: Travels to Buffalo on Thursday. The Sabres ripped the Penguins 5-2 on Feb. 22.

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Will Graves, The Associated Press