ST. PAUL Christian Dvorak Jersey , Minn. (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel are doing their part, continuing to pile up points for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the team’s goaltenders might have been the headlining act in a big December.Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists, and Sidney Crosby added a goal and assist as Pittsburgh kept rolling with a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Monday night.Casey DeSmith, who stopped 40 shots to beat Minnesota on Dec. 20, made 31 saves for the Penguins, who have won eight of their past 10 games, a season-high six games in a row and finished December 11-3-1.DeSmith was 6-3-1 in December with a 2.39 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. Matt Murray, since returning from a lower-body injury, was 5-0 with a 1.38 goals-against average and .959 save percentage for Pittsburgh. Heading into the game, the two combined for a .931 save percentage in the month, which led the league.“I think they’ve got a nice, healthy competition amongst themselves right now,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “They’re both at their very best. They’re making timely saves for us. They’re making saves at key times in the game that give us a chance to either maintain a lead or get momentum back, whatever it may be.”Kessel has three points in each of his past three games and Crosby has four straight games with multiple points for Pittsburgh, which tied its season high with its fourth straight road win.Mikko Koivu scored for the first time in 15 games and Zach Parise added his 17th goal of the season for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves for Minnesota, which has lost eight of its past 11 games.“It was another pretty good effort by us http://www.officialcoyotes.com/authentic-adidas-clayton-keller-jersey ,” Dubnyk said. “Obviously, it gets old. We’re all competitive and used to winning in here, so you don’t want to sit here and say over and over that we played well and had chances and made a good effort. But that’s the case.”The Wild snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday at Winnipeg and then opened the scoring against the Penguins.Koivu started a rush from his defensive zone and got a pass from Nino Niederreiter in the slot, sending a quick shot past DeSmith. It was the first power-play goal allowed by Pittsburgh in six games. They had killed 14 straight short-handed situations.It was Koivu’s 59th career power-play goal, tied with Marian Gaborik for most in franchise history.Given their first power-play, the Penguins tied the game with Kessel sending a pass through defenseman Ryan Suter’s legs to Crosby alone on the back side for an easy tap-in goal.It was the fifth-straight goal on the power-play for Pittsburgh, which was 4 of 4 in a 6-1 win against St. Louis on Saturday. Crosby has 10 points in the past four games.Kessel scored his 17th goal of the season with 21 seconds left in the first period when his shot from the side deflected off Suter’s stick past Dubnyk.“We have given them a couple in the two games,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “There’s no ifs ands or buts on that. It’s very frustrating. It’s a frustrating theme of the way we don’t succeed sometimes.”Riley Sheahan scored in the second period for the Penguins and DeSmith was it his best in the period. Minnesota had 13 shots in a scoreless second, including several in which DeSmith made highlight saves.“It’s all about, as a goaltender, kind of managing in the game and knowing when they’re pressing and doing what you can to hold them off until your team finds a way to push back and respond,” DeSmith said. “Luckily, I was able to do that a little bit during the second period and we got some guys who did a great job finishing their chances tonight.”NOTES: Pittsburgh F Bryan Rust missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury he sustained in the previous game against St. Louis. He’s considered day-to-day. Zach Aston-Reese took Rust’s spot on Sidney Crosby’s line. … Penguins D Olli Maatta was a game-time decision with a lower-body injury but was in the lineup. Jamie Oleksiak was a healthy scratch for the second straight game after missing three games with an injury. … Minnesota D Nick Seeler (upper-body injury) skated before the game and coach Bruce Boudreau said Seeler could return on the team’s upcoming four-game road trip. … Crosby became just the second player in Pittsburgh history to play in 900 games. Mario Lemieux is the all-time leader in games played with 915.UP NEXTPenguins: Face the New York Rangers on Wednesday.Wild: Play Thursday in Toronto. NEW YORK (AP) Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky have the surging Columbus Blue Jackets in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.Panarin had three goals and an assist, Bobrovsky made 29 saves and the Blue Jackets extended their winning streak to nine games with a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.”Obviously, you want to limit the penalties in the third period and the stretch run, but Bob (Bobrovsky) played great and saved us, and Bread (Panarin) was able to seal the deal Youth Derek Stepan Jersey ,” Columbus defenseman Ian Cole said.The Blue Jackets are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at 87 points. Both teams trail Washington by four.It is Columbus’ longest winning streak since its 16-game run last season from Nov. 29, 2016, to Jan. 3, 2017.It was Panarin’s second career hat trick and first with the Blue Jackets. Coincidentally, his other hat trick also came against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 17, 2016, with Chicago.This season, Panarin has 22 points in the past 16 games (10 goals, 12 assists).”We played such a good game until we ended up giving up back-to-back power plays and that kind of changes the landscape of the game,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said.”I guess he scored three, and you know how those guys are – he has that net staring at him with that goalie pulled and he wants to get back out there, and I’m glad it happened for him.”Markus Nutivaara and Alexander Wennberg also scored for the Blue Jackets.Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad scored power-play goals and Kevin Hayes had a short-handed goal for the Rangers.Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves in his first start since March 10 against Florida. Lundqvist was briefly shaken up when Matt Calvert upended him and knocked his helmet off with five minutes remaining.”I was just more surprised. I thought both of them saw me, but I guess not,” Lundqvist said. ”It hurt pretty much everywhere – my foot, my back, my neck. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. It happens.”With Columbus leading 3-2 in the third period, Cam Atkinson drove toward the net and Lundqvist made the initial save Womens Jason Demers Jersey , but Panarin poked the puck free and in for his 24th goal at 11:19.”I was mad at Cam that he’s shooting for once,” Panarin joked through a translator. ”And then I’m grateful the referee probably didn’t see the moment he was behind the goalie and that helped us.”Kreider scored his 14th with 1:52 remaining to get the Rangers to 4-3.Panarin added an empty-netter for the hat trick and his 25th of the season.Earlier, Panarin made it 2-0 in the second. Cole, acquired at the trade deadline, sent a pass to Panarin, who wristed it past Lundqvist at 9:28.”He’s special,” Cole said of Panarin. ”He’s certainly a player you look for. Anytime you see him with space, you want to give him the puck. It’s something that tends to work out well for us.”Hayes then had three impressive scoring chances in the second half of the second period.Bobrovsky stopped him on a short-handed breakaway with about nine minutes remaining. A few minutes later, with the Rangers again short-handed, Jesper Fast grabbed a deflected pass and sent Hayes in on another breakaway and this time he beat Bobrovsky to make it 2-1 with his 21st goal of the season at 13:44. Hayes also hit the post in the final minute of the second.Nutivaara made it 3-1 in the third with his fifth of the season at 4:05. Panarin had the primary assist.Zibanejad got the Rangers closer at 3-2 with his 25th goal of the season at 7:16. He has nine points (six goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.Thomas Vanek, another trade-deadline acquisition, helped the Blue Jackets open the scoring. He sent a backhand pass from behind the net to Wennberg in the slot and he wristed the puck past Lundqvist at 14:05 of the first period for his eighth goal.Lundqvist briefly kept it a one-goal deficit when he stopped Vanek as the Blue Jackets came in on a 2-on-0 break less than four minutes into the second.NOTES: Defenseman Seth Jones has missed the past two games and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Former Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky was a healthy scratch for Columbus. … Zibanejad played in his 400th game. … The Rangers are 5-3-2 since the trade deadline.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Host the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.Rangers: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.—