Pittsburgh: Philadelphia ended a lengthy road losing sequence by beating an undermanned Pittsburgh 4-1 on Wednesday, keeping the Penguins joint fourth in the NHL Eastern Conference despite a milestone goal from Sidney Crosby.
Elsewhere, San Jose kept their slim play-off hopes alive with a win against Colorado and Anaheim clinched the Pacific Division title with victory over Edmonton.
Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn scored twice, Vincent Lecavalier added his first goal in nearly three months, and Carlo Colaiacovo chipped in a rare goal for the Flyers, who ended a nine-game, road-losing streak.
It was unsurprising that sequence ended in Pittsburgh, as the Flyers have now won on their past seven visits.
Crosby scored his 300th career goal for the Penguins and boosted his NHL-leading points total to 80, but Pittsburgh mustered little offense on a night the team played without injured stars Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
San Jose claimed the win they needed to keep a pulse in their postseason ambitions, beating Colorado 5-1.
Scott Hannan, Chris Tierney and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks, while Logan Couture and John Scott added empty-net goals for the Sharks, who moved within five points of Winnipeg for the final wild-card spot in the West with five games remaining.
Matt Duchene scored a power-play goal for the Avalanche, who have lost their past 13 regular-season games at the Shark Tank.
Anaheim sealed a third straight Pacific title with a 5-1 thrashing of Edmonton.
Andrew Cogliano and Francois Beauchemin each had a goal and an assist, while Corey Perry, Nate Thompson and Simon Despres also scored in the fourth straight win for the NHL-leading Ducks, who became the first team to wrap up a division race. They lead Nashville by four points for home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the sole goal for the Oilers, who had won their previous three.
Buffalo’s Matt Moulson and Matt Ellis scored 1:41 apart in the third period as the Sabres beat Toronto 4-1.