Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh overcame the absence of several of their first-choice players to beat Toronto 3-1 on Monday, with Sidney Crosby boosting his NHL-leading points total by scoring the go-ahead goal.
Elsewhere, Cody Ceci scored his first career goal to lift Ottawa over St. Louis in overtime, Paul Stastny led Colorado over Dallas and Evander Kane’s return from injury lifted Winnipeg over Columbus.
Pittsburgh were locked 1-1 with Toronto, with just over six minutes remaining when Crosby took a centering pass from Pascal Dupuis and beat the goalie to the stick side to boost his points total to a league-leading 47.
Chris Conner and Brandon Sutter also scored for the Penguins, who were playing without a number of regulars, including forward Evgeni Malkin, but still won their fourth straight game.
Morgan Rielly scored the first goal of his career for the Maple Leafs.
Ottawa’s Cody Ceci scored his first NHL goal four minutes into overtime to give the Senators a 3-2 win over St. Louis.
Ceci recovered a clearing attempt by the Blues and fired in a wrist shot that beat goalie Brian Elliott.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Bobby Ryan scored in regulation for the Senators, who picked up points for the fifth time in six games.
Chris Stewart scored the goals for the Blues, both of their strikes coming late in the second period.
Colorado’s Paul Stastny scored twice and added two assists to power the Avalanche to a 6-2 win over Dallas.
Erik Johnson and Andre Benoit also scored in a four-goal second period, and Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie got the other goals for Colorado.
Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist and Kevin Connauton scored his first NHL goal for the Stars.
Winnipeg’s Evander Kane returned from injury to score a goal and add an assist, leading the Jets to a 3-2 win over Columbus.
Mark Scheifele and Bryan Little also had goals for the Jets.
R.J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin had the goals for the Blue Jackets, who had a first-period goal disallowed.
