Penguins Pounce on Blues With Crosby’s 4 Points

ST. LOUIS — 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.

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.

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David Solomon, The Associated Press