Penguins 5, Islanders 0
Sidney Crosby made a spectacular return to NHL action, recording two goals and two assists in his first game since last January as the Pittsburgh Penguins cruised to a 5-0 victory over the visiting New York Islanders on Monday.
Crosby, who missed the previous 61 regular-season games due to concussion symptoms, had eight shots on goal in just under 16 minutes and netted a goal on his second shift of the game at 5:24 as the Penguins snapped a two-game slide. He also scored 2:06 into the third.
Evgeni Malkin registered a goal and an assist and Pascal Dupuis added three assists for Pittsburgh, which has won all three games against the Islanders this season.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season and 21st of his career.
Crosby finished with 7:10 of ice time in the first period. He took a pass from Dupuis in stride through center ice, blew past defenseman Andrew MacDonald and flipped a backhand over Islanders netminder Anders Nilsson.
Brooks Orpik’s blast from the top of the slot, set up by Crosby and the hustle of Dupuis, beat Nilsson at 16:29 and Crosby added an assist on Malkin’s power-play goal 3:17 into the second for a 3-0 lead.
Nilsson, making his first NHL start, had 31 saves. The Islanders have lost six of their last seven games.