NHL roundup: Crosby leads Penguins to another win

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored a goal and set up another with a no-look pass and the Pittsburgh Penguins matched a franchise record for most victories in their first 25 games, beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Wednesday night.

The Penguins are 17-8 with five victories in six games since losing four in a row and five of six. The only other seasons they won 17 of their first 25 were 1995-96 (17-5-3) and 1994-95 (17-6-2), when there were tie games Crosby has four goals and an assist as the Penguins have outscored Montreal 9-2 in two games in Pittsburgh, including a 6-1 victory on Oct. 28 in which Crosby had his only three-goal game this season. Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves, allowing only Max Pacioretty's third-period goal.

CAPITALS 2, SABRES 0: At Washington, Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves for his first regular-season shutout, and Alex Ovechkin scored his team-high 17th goal before drawing a third-period ejection in Washington's victory over Buffalo. Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals. Varlamov, who had two shutouts in the playoffs last spring against the New York Rangers, wasn't severely tested until the third period, when Ovechkin's absence put Washington at a decided disadvantage.

Ovechkin drew a major for boarding and a game misconduct 3:38 into the third period when he ran Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta into the boards opposite the benches. It was the second career ejection for Ovechkin, and both have come against Buffalo at Verizon Center. The other was Dec. 2, 2006, when he checked Daniel Briere from behind

PREDATORS 4, AVALANCHE 3 (OT): At Denver, David Legwand scored in overtime to give Nashville its seventh straight victory and 11th in its last 13 games.

J.P. Dumont, Marcel Goc and Shea Weber also scored, and Pekka Rinna made 19 saves.

Milan Hejduk had a goal and an assist, Ryan Wilson and Marek Svatos added goals, and Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots for Colorado.

THRASHERS 2, RED WINGS 0: At Detroit, Ondrej Pavelec made 40 saves for Atlanta for his second shutout of the season and his career, and Vyacheslav Kozlov had a goal and an assist. Nik Antropov also scored to help Atlanta snap a three-game losing streak. Jimmy Howard stopped 23 shots for Detroit. The Red Wings have lost four of their last five.